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THE CKUISE OF

H.M.S. "BACCHANTE."

1879—1882.

BACCHANTE"

1879—1882.

CTompiIcli from

THE PRIVATE JOURNALS, LETTERS, AND NOTE-BOOKS OF

PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR

AND

PRINCE GEORGE OF WALES,

WITH ADDITIONS BY JOHN N. D ALTON

Vol. L— THE WEST AND THE SOUTH.

THE MEDITERRANEAK— TENERIFFE— WEST INDIES— BERMUDAS—

VIGO— FERROL— ST. VINCENT— THE PLATE— FALKLAND

ISLANDS— CAPE OF GOOD HOPE— AUSTRALIA— FIJI.

Qui descendunt mare in navibus,

Facientes operationem in aquis raultis,

Ipsi viderunt opera Domini

Et mirabilia ejus in profundo.

Confiteantur Domino misericordiae ejus et mirabilia ejus flliis hominum.

— Ps. cvii. 23, 24, 31.

MACMILLAN AND CO.

188G.

The Right of Translation and Reproduction it Reserved.

Richard Clay <fe Sons,

BKEAD STREET HI IX, LONDON,

Bungay, Suffolk.

H-ZfO

Zo tbe (Slueen

THESE JOURNALS ARE WITH PERMISSION

BY HER majesty's AFFECTIONATE AND DUTIFUL GRANDSONS

ALBERT YICTOR C. EDWAED
GEORGE FREDERICK E. ALBERT.

PEEFACE.

This account of the three years' cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante makes
no pretension to literary form. Such as it is, it has been put
together at the desire of their Royal Highnesses the Prince
and Princess of Wales, who have intrusted the private journals,
letters, and other papers of their sons to me for this purpose.
Though three years have gone by since the ship was paid off, it
is only within the last few months that I have been free or had
leisure to. arrange the material for publication.

Both Princes kept very regular diaries all the time they were
away from home : these, written up every evening before turning
in, both at sea and ashore, wherever they happened to be stay-
ing — whether it was beneath the roof of different Government
Houses, or out in the bush, on the Pampas, in Japanese temples,
or Chinese house-boats ; whether up the Nile, or beneath their
tents in Syria, form naturally the groundwork of the whole. As
might naturally be expected, their pages become much fuller
towards the end of the three years than they are at the beginning.
Those portions especially which cover the time the Princes were
in Egypt and Palestine were written out afterwards from rough
jottings and notes made on horseback, or during the mid-day
siesta, from what Brugsch Bey or Captain Conder had been
telling them when face to face with the objects visited. I have
also drawn largely upon the contents of letters. These were
often written against time and in haste to catch the mail. But
such passages as I have extracted from them I have thought

viii PREFACE.

it best to leave as they were first penned, however rough they
might appear, rather than smooth them down in cold blood :
for thus they convey a truer representation of the immediate
impression produced by the place or circumstance described.

With the private journals and letters that record the passing
sensation of the day or hour, I have embodied a good deal
from certain note-books in which the Princes entered at their
leisure the substance of much which they read concerning the
countries visited, or learnt in conversation from those with whom
they were specially privileged to be brought into contact from
time to time. Where such entries refer to figures and statistics
I have endeavoured to correct them up to date. It would be
absurd to imagine that two young men of their respective ages
should take in fully all the information given respecting the
various places and people they saw, as older persons might have
done. But as these pages will testify, several clear impressions
were produced on their minds at each port, which will remain
till their dying day; and foremost among these is the vivid
remembrance of what they saw in Australia, where the interest
they evinced in different matters connected with the political and
commercial development of that portion of a United and Greater
Britain was most keen.

My own additions are marked off in square brackets. They
can readily be skipped by those who prefer to read continuously
the more descriptive narrative portion of the text.

In an account that covers so wide an extent of ground, and
deals with so many topics, it would be vain to expect that no
mistakes or errors should be discovered by specialists. But I
venture to hope that there are not many of a gross character.
The proof-sheets of the portions relating to Japan have been
read by Mr. Ernest Satow, C.M.G. ; the Straits Settlements by
Sir Frederic Weld, G.C.M.G., and the Hon. Clementi Smith ;
Egypt by Emil Brugsch Bey ; Palestine by Captain Conder, R.E. ;
Fiji by Sir William des Voeux, K.C.M.G. ; the Cape and Australia
by two gentlemen lately resident in and thoroughly conversant
with both those countries. All these friends were good enough

PREFACE. ix

to make valuable suggestions and additions to the Princes'
memoranda, which served to supplement the result of the Princes'
own observations, and which have greatly conduced to make the
following account accurate and trustworthy, as far as actual
facts are concerned : but with the opinions expressed or con-
clusions drawn from such facts it would be unfair in any way
to identify them. Wherever, as in the case of the West Indies
or South Africa, it was impossible to avoid touching on subjects
that still form matter of rather a lively controversy, a strenuous
endeavour has been made to give both sides of the question, as
far as possible in the very words used by their several advocates,
and these have been drawn exclusively from Blue Books and
other official sources. With two exceptions no names have been
introduced.

The charts tracing the Bacchantes course from port to port are
such as every midshipman in the service is bound to draw in his
log-book, and show to the captain from week to week. They are
all drawn on Mercator's projection. Each degree measured ver-
tically off the side of the chart represents for practical purposes
sixty miles. These charts, as well as the extracts from the Princes'
logs appended to them, have been kindly looked over by Lieu-
tenants F. B. Henderson and Evelyn Le Marchant, KN. The
track of the Bacchante on the large chart was laid down by
Lieutenant H. Roxby, R.N., who has also been good enough to
revise the account of the ship's mishap off Cape Leuwin (vol. i.
pp. 439-450). The larger illustrations are taken from photographs ;
most of the smaller ones from sketches made by Lieutenant Percy
Scott, R.N. ; one in vol. i. p. 204, by Mr. Triggs, assistant engineer ;
two others by Lieutenant Basset, R.N., one in vol. i. p. 453, and
the other vol. ii. p. 764. The sketch map of the Syrian tour, the
plan of Jerusalem, and the mosque at Hebron were drawn by
Captain Conder.

Although probably the portion of this book which will be
read by the general public with most interest is that which
refers to the Princes' visits to the British Colonies, and to foreign
countries, yet if anything like a true notion of the cruise, its

X PREFACE.

objects and its results, is to be obtained, it must be borne in mind
that the time really spent at sea was of no less importance to the
Princes themselves. At sea during the longer cruises day follows
day and week week with a regularity which, read of, is suggestive
of monotony ; but it seems monotonous only to those who have
few resources in their own minds or who have never been
to sea in a man-of-war. There each day has its own routine ;
and each hour of each day should find every one ready and
prepared for the particular duty appropriate to that branch
of the service to which he may belong. This regularity and free-
dom from all outside interruption was just what was required in
the case of the two Princes for purposes of school and study,
as well as for instruction in a sailor's duties. The period spent at
sea was to the Princes the equivalent of a schoolboy's ordinary life ;
the holiday time was represented by the occasions on which they
were away from the ship on leave, or when they went up country.
When H.R.H. the Prince of Wales determined to send his
sons to sea, it was chiefly with a view to the mental and moral
training that they would receive as midshipmen in Her Majesty's
navy. In every one of the Queen's ships each officer, man,
and boy has his special and individual duties to perform every
hour of the day and night, with a routine that should be as precise
and unvarying as clockwork. The sense of responsibility on the
part of a junior or petty officer for the men, however few they
may be, intrusted to his charge, and the habit of implicit and
instant obedience to seniors that is brought out and inculcated by
the naval service soon become to all in the ship a second nature ;
and every soul on board, cut ofiF for a considerable time from all
connection with the outer world, is welded together into an attached
community, each grade of which is dependent in well-ordered
method on the others.

As long as they were on board ship the Princes were treated
exactly like the other midshipmen, and performed all tlie duties
which usually fall to their lot : they took their turn in all weathers
by day or night at watch-keeping and going aloft, at sail drill, or
boat duty. There was no difference, not even the slightest, of any

PREFACE. xi

sort or kind made between them and their gunroom messmates.
Thus they were taught seamanship by the first lieutenant, the
Hon, H. G. Curzon-Howe, and gunnery by the gunnery lieutenant,
Mr. C. H. Adair. Their mathematical studies were entirely in
the hands of Mr. John W. Lawless, their naval instructor, and
they read French with Mr. G. Sceales. To the captain, Lord
Charles Scott, belonged of course the supervision and manage-
ment of all these, as well as of everything that appertained to
their life on board ship. My duties as governor in charge of
the Princes began when they went on shore, and always ended
when they came on board again as midshipmen, except that I was
responsible to their parents for their general education.

The Admiralty kindly permitted my name to be borne on the
ship's books as acting chaplain for temporary service during the
whole period of the Bacchante s commission : and for the honour
thus done me I shall ever feel deeply grateful to their lordships.
The performance of the duties of that office and the oppor-
tunities thus afforded for establishing intimate relations between
myself and each man and boy in the ship gave me the most real
instruction, and the three years thus spent afloat as chaplain in
Her Majesty's naval service I shall always regard as among the
happiest in^^my hfe.

JOHN NEALE DALTON.

H.M.S. "BACCHANTE."

The Bacchante's extreme length over all was 307 feet (between perpendiculars
280 feet), her extreme breadth 45^ feet, depth of hold 15 feet 7 inches, draught of
water aft 23 feet 9 inches, and forward 20 feet 9 inches. She carried 400 tons of coal
(and could stow at a pinch 150 tons more). The indicated horse-power of her engines
was 5,250. Her armament on the upper deck was two 4^-ton muzzle-loading guns,
and on the main deck twelve of the same, six each side, with the addition of two
64-pounders in the captain's cabin. She was also armed with "Whitehead torpedoes,
and carried four Nordenfeldt's machine guns. Each of the 4i-ton guns had a battering
charge of 22 lbs. of powder, and a full charge of 14 lbs., and the average weight of
the projectile discharged (whether chilled shot or shell, common or double) was
150 lbs., and the total weight of the broadside was 12^ cwt., or a little over half a
ton. This would be comparatively useless against the sides of an ironclad, but as
the ship was built as a fast steaming cruiser, she was not intended to be regularly
engaged against siich.

The Bacchante carried 47 tons of fresh water in 57 tanks, which was the full
supply for all purposes on ship board during a period of twenty days ; during her
commission every drop of fresh water used on board was condensed ; thus the
possibility of ever using any contaminated shore supply was avoided.

The Bacchante's engines, made by Rennie, were horizontal, compound, with return
connecting-rod, and three cylinders, one high pressure and two low. The screw was
a single one (Griffiths), its diameter 20 feet 10 inches, length 4 feet 7\ inches, emersion
of upper edge 6 inches.

There were ten boilers and thirty furnaces. There were two funnels, the diameter of
the fore was 8 feet 9 inches, that of the after 6 feet 6 inches, and their weights were
6 tons 8 cwt, and 5 tons 9 cwt. respectively. The total weight of the engines,
boilers (when filled), screw and machinery was a little under 1,000 tons.

The weight of her provisions for 84 days was 42 tons

That of the tanks themselves 9 ,,

That of the casks, cases, &c 11 ,,

The officers' store and slops (which last consist of spare clothing for issue)... 12 ,,

The chests 4 ,,

The officers, men, and their eflfects 44 ,,

The masts, yards, and all the spars 70 ,,

The rigging and blocks 45 ,,

The sails (including spare ones) 10 ,,

The cables 53 ,,

Tlie five anchors 19 ,

The boats 12 ,,

The boatswain's and carpenter's stores 50 ,,

The guns, powder, shell, shot, and gunner's stores 178 ,,

xiv H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

All tlie foregoing weights amounted to a little over 600 tons, while the total
weight of equipment to be recorded was 1,918 tons. Thus the weight of the
engines and machinery for propelling the ship amounted to two-thirds of the weight
she carried. The weight of the hull was a little over the weight of what was placed
in the hull, and amounted to 1,994 tons, so that the total displacement of the
Bacchante was 3,912 ; this was her actual weight in the water ; but her -total
weight when fully equipped was 4,130 tons.

The Bacchante carried the foUowincr boats : —

Steam pinnace . .
Steam cutter'. . .
Sailing launch . .

do. pinnace
Cutters (two) . .
Galley . . . . .
Whaler (air cases)
Second gig . . .

Dingey

Copper punt . . .

Length.

Breadth.

Depth.

ft. ill.

ft. in.

8 11

4 7^

10 8

8 9

3 2

7 6

2 6^

5 6

2 2

5 6

2 2

5 6

2 2

5 2

2 2

1 9

Weight.

tons.cwt.qrs.

6 2

2 5

4 3 3

2 5

8 3^

7 ■

Men.

16 (double-banked)
12 do.

10 do.

6 (single-banked)

5 do.

2 do.

The above weights are those of the boats themselves : with their gear they would
weigh half as much again, with the exception of the launch and junnaces ; the number
of men given arc those required to pull them.

DIMENSIONS OF THE MASTS AND YARDS.

Foremast (extreme length from deck)

Topmasts

Topgallantmasts

The total heights of masts from deck

to truck were

Fore yard

Topsail yard

Topgallant yard

Royal yard

Bowsprit

Jib-boom (outboard)

Flying-boom (outboard)

Length

•

Diameter.

Fore.

Main.

Mizen.

Fore.

Main.

Mizen.

ft. in.

inches.

56 6

57 3

44 10

18^

43 6

33 6

lOi

145

149

121

82 6

13i

13^

41 6

30 6

23 6

...

24^

...

29 6

15i

...

jcting fr

om the

bows w

M 63 ft

6 in.

H.M.S. BACCHANTE. xv

H.M.S. Bacchante was commissioned July 15th, 1879, at Portsmouth, by Capnies, the two Dutch Republics and
the Native Clans — either one of two Policies] 319—429

AT SEA. Cape of Good Hope to Australia 430—444

Albany — Hoisting out our Rudder — First ride into the Bush —
Marblup — Breaksca Island — H.M.S Cleopatra amves — [King

George's Sound] — Western Australia 445 — 469

Adelaide — Kadina and Moonta Mines — Mount Lofty — Collingrove —

St. Peter's Cathedral 471—480

Overland from Adelaide to Victoria — On Lakes Alexandrina and
Albert — Kangaroo Hunting — Along the Coorong — South
Australia 481—494

CONTENTS OF VOL. I. xxiii

PAGES

From the frontier to Melbourne — Melbourne — [The Victorian Naval
Force] — Ballarat — Down a Gold Mine — [Australian Federation]
— Separation Day Meeting — Botanical Gardens — Addresses —
Melbourne Cricket Club — Sandhurst— Education in Victoria —
We are to leave H.M.S. Bacchante — [Imperial Federation] . . . 496 — 550

AT SEA. Ilobson's Bay to Port Jackson on board H.M.S. Inconstant . 550 — 553
Sydney— St. Andrew's Cathedral — Captain Cook's Monument —
Botanical Gardens — [New South Wales Military Force] —Sydney
University — [Education in New South Wales]— Boomerangs
and Frozen Meat — [Australian Legislatures] — Visit to the Blue
Mountains — Admiral's illness — [The French in the Pacific] —
Marquis de Rays — H.M.S. Bacchante arrives — New South Wales
Trade — Hawkesbury River — Public Holiday — Botany Bay , . . 554 — 612

AT SEA. Port Jackson to Moreton Bay 613—615

Brisbane — One Tree Hill — Queensland — Ministerial Pic-nic —

Grammar School 616—624

,, Moreton Bay to Fiji 625—630

Levuka — Whale's tooth— [Sir Arthur Gordon on Fiji ; the tribal
an-angements, method of Government and taxation ; trade and
general prospects]— Christianity in Fiji — Kava drinking — Meke
dancing — [Plant-culture and labour supply] 630 — 675

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAnK

Gibraltar from Spanish side of the Neutral Ground . . To face pcujc 30

"After Evening Quarters" 34

The Gardens of the Hesperides To face page 44

Banana in Fruit 83

H.M.S. "Bacchante" under all possible sail To fctcc page 143

Jamaican Cactus and Pinguin Hedges 151

General Quarters 189

Vigo (Sketch from "Bacchante's" Deck) 204

In the North-east Trades 248

Crossing the Line 256

Wool Waggons on South American Pampas To face page 287

Beating to Windward, H.M.S. "Garnet" leading 302

Detached Squadron in Simon's Bay To face j^gc 319

Table Mountain from the Kloof Road 354

H.M.S. "Bacchante" in a Gale 440

Extemporised Steering Gear 443

Derrick Rigged for Unshipping Rudder 449

Broken Rudder-head 451

Our Shanty in the Bush at Marblup 453

An Australian Buck-jumper 457

In Miner's Rig To face page 512

xxvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VAOF.

Kelly's Armour 515

Kelly the Bushranger 517

Government House, Melbourne, from Botanical Garden . To face page 523

H.M.S. "Bacchante" in Hobson's Bay without her Rudder 525

Elizabeth Bay, Port Jackson To face page 558

AVhite Labourers in Queensland SugAr-fields 622

Levuka To face page 630

Hut built for us by Fijian Chiefs ,, 654

Yangona, or Kava Drinking 655

Mek6 Dancing 656

Outrigger Canoe on Beach 658

Group of Fiji Men 65^

Mek6 Dancing at Night 671

LIST OF CHAETS AND MAPS.

PAGE

Cruise of H.M.S. "Bacchante" To face 'page xix

Portland to Gibraltar 4

Gibraltar to Port Mahon 8

Port Mahon to Palermo 14

Palermo to Messina 23

Messina to Gibraltar 26

Gibraltar 29

Gibraltar to Madeira 33

Madeira to Teneriffe 37

Teneriffe to Barbados 47

Barbados to Trinidad 66

Trinidad to Grenada, Grenadines, and St. Vincent 90

St. Vincent to St, Lucia, to Barbados, to Martinique, to Dominica 103

Dominica to St. Thomas and Jamaica 140

Jamaica to Bermuda 167

Bermuda to Portsmouth 186

Portsmouth to Bantry Bay and Vigo 200

Ferrol to Vigo 228

Vigo to Madeira 239

xxviii LIST OF CHARTS AND MAPS.

PAGE

Madeika to Cape de Verde Islands 247

St. Vincent to Monte Video 254

Monte Video to the Falklands 300

Falklands to Cape of Good Hope 308

Table Bay to Simon's Bay 356

South Africa 373

Cape of Good Hope to Australia 430

Sydney to Brisbane 613

Brisbane to Levuka 625

CEUISE OF H.M.S. ^^ BACCHANTE. '

1879—1882.

After having passed the two years 1877 — 1879 as naval cadets
on board H.M.S. Britannia (Captain H. Fairfax, C.B.) at Dartmouth,
we left that ship late in July, and on Tuesday, August 6th, 1879,
joined H.M.S. Bacchante off Cowes, at which anchorage she had
arrived the evening before from Spithead. A few hours afterwards
the Prince and Princess of Wales, with our three sisters, the
Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of
Connaught, came privately on board, went round and were shown
over the Bacchante, which was dressed at the time with mast-
head flags in honour of the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday. The
ship remained in Cowes Roads during the regatta week till
the 11th, when she started for an experimental cruise down
the Channel, in the same manner as any other new ship when
first commissioned, to test her steam and sailing power, under
various conditions of wind and weather. On Saturday, August
16th, she anchored in Plymouth Sound. The next day the
Prince of Wales arrived there also in the Osborne to be present
at the laying of the foundation stone of the new P]ddystone
Lighthouse by the Duke of Edinburgh ; who as Master of the
Trinity House had come round in the Trinity yacht Galatea.
The Bacchante put to sea again the same afternoon for further
continuation of experimental cruise which lasted till the 26th, when
she anchored at Spithead. The official report of her performances
stated " she had been as far west as the Channel soundings, about
100 miles south of Cape Clear, and experienced both light and strong

VOL. I. B

2 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

winds. The ship was tried under steam and sail in both ; is a
perfect steamer ; under sail is slow in light winds, but sails well in a
fresh breeze : is not crank but very steady, and altogether a very satis-
factory ship." On the 28th the ship proceeded alongside the Sheer
Jetty in Portsmouth Harbour and got out the four-and-a-half ton
forecastle gun and also the two sixty-four pounders from the captain's
cabin. These weights were removed with the view of altering her
trim and of possibly thus making her a better sailer.

Sept. 17th. — The Prince of Wales, attended by Captain Stephenson
and Mr. Holzmann, brought us both (we had just returned from
Denmark, whither we had been for a few days with the Princess
of Wales) down from town to Portsmouth and proceeded with
Admiral Fanshawe in the Firequeen on board the Bacchante
at Spithead, where having left us he returned on shore to be the
guest for the night of Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar.

Sept. 18th. — The Prince of Wales with Prince and Princess
Edward and Prince Herman of Saxe-Weimar came on board about
10.30. A.M. We left the anchorage at Spithead about noon, the
Prince of Wales's standard at the main and the Osborne following
as tender, proceeded through the Needles to Portland, where we
arrived at 4.30 p.m. in a thick fog, having done the forty-six miles at
over ten knots the hour. Roxby piloted us so well that although
we had been in the fog ever since we had passed the Needles we
exactly hit off the end of the Portland breakwater, round the east
end of which we passed to our anchorage, H.M.S. Warrior and
Boscawen manned yards and saluted standard, which was hauled
down on the Prince of Wales leaving the ship for the Osborne.

Sept. Idth. — We went on board the Osborne after breakfast to say
good-bye to the Prince of Wales, who left at 10. a.m. for Cherbourg,
where he arrived the same afternoon at 4.30 P.M., having found it
very foggy all across the Channel. The Bacchante manned yards,
fired royal salute and cheered ship as the Osborne steamed out
of Portland Roads. In the afternoon had our j&rst scratch match at
cricket on the recreation ground, and afterwards walked up to the
Verne and on the Chesil beach. At 5.30 p.m. H.M.S. Nev)castle,
Capt. Kelly, arrived and anchored. She is the last of the old frigates,
and her lines contrast somewhat strongly with those of the more
modern Bacchante. She was one of the Flying Squadron, under
the command of Admiral Rowley Lambert, when Lord Charles
Scott was his flag-captain. The next day the weather cleared and
H.M.S. Warriors athletic sports took place.

1879. POKTLAND TO GIBRALTAR. 3

Se'pt. 2\st. — Morning service, at which, for the first time, the
large harmonium which the Princess of Wales has given for the
use of the ship was played. Prince Edward of Saxe- Weimar, Lord
Albert Seymour and Colonel Gordon came over from Weymouth
(where H.S.H. is staying for an inspection of the district) and
lunched on board.

Sejpt. 22nd. — During the dinner hour all the officers assembled on
the quarter-deck and were photographed in a group. In the after-
noon several of us went ashore, up to the convict prison, where
Mr. Clifton, the governor, showed us round the various blocks of
buildings. We went into several of the cells, which were all
beautifully clean and neat, and then saw the convicts march in
in gangs from their work at the close of the day. We heard some
startling yarns as to former and present occupants of this
establishment.

Sept. 24ith. — To-day there is a strong south-west breeze, which, if
it continues,will be a head wind for us going down Channel, otherwise
the weather is bright and fine. Lieutenant E. S. Evans (who is
staying with his brother the commander of the Boscawen), our old
first lieutenant on board the Britannia, came off to see us.

Sept. 2oth. — During the morning watch sighted H.M.S. Bn-
chantress with the Admiralty flag flying ; after she had anchored the
Lords of the Admiralty (Mr. W. H. Smith, Sir Cooper Key, Admiral
Hood) came on board at 10 A.M. and went round the ship.

Steam was ordered to be up by 4 p.m. Got under way at 5.15
P.M., made sail to topgallant sails, and proceeded thus out through
the " hole in the wall." Outside the Race, off the Bill, there was a
very slight swell, but the ship went as steady as a church, the
breeze being still from the south-west. As soon as we are round
the corner we furled sails and proceeded under steam. The Dorset
coast was very clear in the evening light ; after dinner stayed on
deck till 12 P.M., when we passed the Start. Before this we saw the
reflection of light over Torquay above the horizon, but could not
distinguish either Berry Head or Dartmouth Harbour. Passed,
however, through quite a little fleet of our old friends the Brixham
trawlers.

Sept. 26th. — Passed the Lizard about 11 A.M., a fine sunny morning;
what little wind there is comes from the west, and we are going six
and a half knots. Lost sight of the Wolf Lighthouse and the Land's
End, and thus get our last glimpse of the English coast soon after
3 P M. We meet at the same time our first shoal of porpoises, coming

B 2

CRUISE OF II.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

PORTLAND TO GIBRALTAR.

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6p.m

Noon.

6V.M.

Sept.

N.W. 3-4

...

112

W. 3

49-52

5-27

S. 68 W.

134

S.W. 4-6

48-58

28S.-

S. 84 W.

118

N.E. 3-4

48-47

11-59

S. 24 W.

133

E. 3

46-46

13-20

S. 2W.

128

S.W. 3-7

44-38

13-26

Oct.

S. 15 E.

117

N.E. 2-3

42-44

12-44

South

121

E. 3-4

40-43

12-44

S. 12 E.

127

N.E. 1-2

38-39

12-8

S. 40 E.

N.E. 1-4

37-29

10-52

5S.

S. 55 E.

146

N.E. 5-2

36-7

8-22

8
1004

122

N.E. 1-2

es.

368

Tota

1 distance...

1372 mil

1879. PORTLAND TO GIBRALTAR. 5

to welcome us as they rise and plunge in the slight Atlantic swell,
to which the Bacchante now begins to pitch responsively. After
evening quarters the horizontal bar was rigged on the quarter-deck
and we had our first turn round. Rope quoits are also started on
the opposite side of the deck, which, instead of being pitched on a
peg, are aimed to fall into a bucket, or else a circle chalked for that
purpose at each end of the quarter-deck.

Sept, 27th. — The thermometer 60°, already a couple of degrees
warmer than yesterday, and though the wind is nearly dead ahead
we made plain sail at 11 A.M., and afterwards raised the screw.
There is now a heavy swell coming up from the west, but overhead it
is bright and sunny. The Bacchante is said to be more lively than
she was when she carried her forecastle gun and the two smaller
ones aft in the captain's cabin. The watch are being constantly
exercised to accustom them to their stations.

On Sunday 28th the two usual services at 10.30 A.M. and at
5 P.M. As the wind to-day is fair from north-east we set stunsails,
and after dinner passed the Wilson-line steamer Yeddo of
Liverpool homeward bound, to which made signal " report us all
well." The number of the porpoises and of the Mother Carey's
chickens goes on increasing, and at night the rolling of the ship
also. This continued the whole of the next day (Michaelmas
day). At noon we had made a run of 133 miles. The captain
dined in the wardroom, and after dinner bets were made as
to the Bacchante some day sailing thirteen knots between the
Cape and Australia in the " roaring forties." Bright moonlight
night.

Sept. SOth. — Thermometer 62°, rainy morning. In the after-
noon the breeze freshened up to six, when we went along be-
tween six and seven knots closehauled, heeling from twelve to
fourteen degrees, with the royals in. After evening quarters the
wind died away and we were once more left rocking on the
swell.

Oct. 1st. — The morning broke clear and bright : what wind there
is is right aft (north-east), but we only make an .average of three
knots the whole twenty-four hours : those of the youngsters who
had a touch of sea-sickness are now quite themselves again, with
vigorous appetites and cheerful voices. In the afternoon we all take
our turn on the horizontal bar, and at quoit playing.

Oct. 2nd. — Progress somewhat better this morning, course south,
wind on the port beam, and by noon have made 121 miles. We

6 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

are said to be running along in the " Portuguese trade," the sea all
round is a deep purple blue, and the line of the horizon is broken
by the swell, and thus appears quite wavy, and not straight as when
seen off the land. Two of our gunroom mess-mates who came out
of the Britannia in our term as naval cadets are to-day rated as
midshipmen, and appear for the first time with the white patches
on their jacket collars.

Oct. Srd. — It is becoming gradually delightfully warm, ther-
mometer in cabin to-day nearly 70°. In the afternoon, after quarters,
had single-stick and boxing, afterwards there was a tug of war,
starboard watch keepers against port. Our first view of a regular
"trade" sunset, the sky suffused with a deep rose colour, and a
multitude of small clouds broken up all along the western horizon.
After dinner experimented with the microphone, listening to the
flies walking over a board, etc.

Oct. Uh. — A warm bright day, the usual Saturday routine,
cleaning ship throughout, fire quarters, etc. In the evening as
before, high cockolorum, " sling the monkey," etc. and then to choir
practice. A beautiful starlight night with the moon behind a thin
veil of cloud, through which also Mars is distinctly visible, shining
with a ruddy hue : Jupiter in the west with his four moons (which
the officer of the watch persisted were seven in his glass) was very
bright, and in the north was the Swan with its cross, a finer one
even than the Southern Cross. Went forward on the forecastle and
there looked out on the waters as the ship ploughed her way
through them, and all the stars glittered in between the spaces of
the sails and rigging, and everything was silvered over by the light
of the moon. " Quam magnificata sunt opera tua, Domine ! omnia
in sapientia fecisti ; impleta est terra possessione tua. Hoc mare
magnum et spatiosum manibus ; illic reptilia quorum non est
numerus, animalia pusilla cum magnis : illic naves pertransibunt :
omnia a te expectant ut des illis escam in tempore. Dante te illis
coUigent ; aperiente te manum tuam, omnia implebuntur bonitate.
Sit gloria Domini in saeculum : laetabitur Dominus in operibus
suis."— Psalm ciii. 24-31.

Oct. 5th. — Morning service on main deck. At noon had made
146 miles, our best run hitherto, giving us an average of six knots,
though the wind has never been more than five, port stunsails set
nearly the whole time. After evening quarters got the screw down,
furled sails and commenced steaming as we had to alter course,
hauling up for Gibraltar.

1879. PORTLAND TO GIBRALTAR. 7

Oct. &h. — Rose early and saw the sun rise right ahead at 5.30 a.m.

** Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay ;
In the dimmest north-east distance dawned Gibraltar grand and gray ;
* Here and here did England help me ; how can I help England ? ' — say,
"Whoso turns as we, this morning, turn to God to praise and pray."

— R. Browning, Home TJwughts from the Sea.

Seventy-four years ago this very month, these capes and bays
were witness to that, the memory of which this morning fills our
minds. On the 21st October, 1805, twenty-seven English ships of
the line and four frigates engaged thirty-three French and Spanish
ships of the line and seven frigates. Nelson had pursued them out
to the West Indies, and back again to Cadiz : while Napoleon was
waiting at Boulogne to invade England. He came up with them
here, and here completed the work of his life. Nelson was
wounded a quarter before one, and died at half-past four same
afternoon, only forty-seven years old : ''and though he fell himself
in the hour of victory, twenty French sail had struck their flag ere
the day was done. The French and Spanish navies were in
fact annihilated. From this time the supremacy of England at
sea remained unquestioned, and the danger of any invasion of
England rolled away like a dream." (Green, History of the l^nglish
People, vol. iv. p. 362.) Cape Spartel on the African Coast
stands up through the mist which now begins to settle on the
horizon, owing to the Levanter which we begin to meet blowing full
in our faces out through the Straits. We passed a French convict
ship, an old two-decker sailing out westward before it ; shortly after,
Tarifa, a Moorish-looking town on the yellow-grey Spanish coast,
and so came in to our anchorage off Gibraltar at 11.80 A.M. The
Rock stretches in all its long and jagged magnificence in front of
us; the bumboats from the shore at once come clustering round the
ship. At 4.80 P.M. we landed by the Mole and walked up through
the Alameda or public promenade grounds to Captain Edye's,
(senior naval officer here), and so had our first sight of palms, aloes,
and other semi-tropical trees and flowers growing in the open.
These have a dusty look by the roadside. Some Moors, handsome,
stalwart, well-made men in white robes from TaDgiers, and
turbaned ; pony carriages with awning stretched on iron canopies,
(and let out for hire as cabs), and many English soldiers passed us.
Captain Edye gave us bananas, figs and pomegranates grown in
his garden, which he told us the monkeys had spared. Bound the
house the bougainvillea creeper with its purple flowers grows most

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1870.

luxuriantly, climbing up over and hanging in festoons from all
the trees around : the heliotrope also is flourishing in great bushes.
We walked on up to the Jewish cemetery and by the Europa
barracks. Just before dusk we had a fine view both of the
African coast across the Straits to the south, and of Algesiras on
the Spanish mainland to the west over the bay. Then down to
the Mole steps and off to the ship, through a mass of phosphor-
escence which literally covered the whole surface of the water, and
ran like molten silver from the oar-blades of the crew.

GIBRALTAR TO TORT MAHOX.

-1

/ <

40*

> Q.

V y —

PAIN

(

/ MINORCA

majorcaX^ yport

Mkhon

40*

v./^

^ 8. NOV.

-tT

"•'•'••i/, ^

nn*

/ ^

AFRICA

T>'

d' 5-

Date.

Oct.

7
8

9
10

From Previous Noon

At Noon.

Temperature.

CourHe.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea. 1 Air.

Sail.

^teani.

Noon.! 6p.m.

Noon

6 P.M

70
74

'' !

N. 78 E.

N. 67 E.
N. 57 E.

124

186

181

Light Airs

E.N. 2
N.E. 2 3

miles.

36-32

.37-41
39*19

2-'51
E.

0-45
4 1

67
70

70
70

69
70

70
70

72
75

76
74

tal distance.

523

Od. 1th. — Got our letters and newspapers, and heard for the first
time, to our surprise, from England of the " Mutiny" and dis-

1879. GIBRALTAR TO PORT MAHON, 9

turbance on board the Bacchante. After posting our mails,
weighed anchor at 3.35 P.M. under steam, and proceeded round
Europa Point with its barracks and flats for exercise and drill into
the Mediterranean, which was perfectly calm and covered with
phosphorescence. There was much mist on the surface of the water,
though the stars could be seen clearly overhead.

Oct. 8th. — At 8 A.M. had our first sight of the Sierra Nevada of
Granada ; the snow-capped hills stood out above the clouds which
hid their lower slopes, although the lesser hills nearer the coast were
clearly seen in the dark foreground. It is the highest range of hills
in Spain ; even in summer the snow does not entirely melt on their
summits. The Spanish coast was in sight all day ; there are
apparently three tiers of mountains one behind the other. The
thermometer is over 75° and it feels very warm. We have begun
white trousers and cap covers to-day and have got a bit of the
awning spread.

Oct. 10th. — The mountains of Majorca are visible in the distance on
the port beam. From 11 A.M. to 12.30 P.M., practised firing at a target,
four rounds from each gun, one of these from each side as an electric
broadside for the first time ; the small-arm men popping away
800 rounds of Martini ammunition and the Gatling gun discharging
240 rounds (one drum full) into the sea. Soon after noon sighted
the coast of Minorca bearing north. We entered and steamed
slowdy up the long harbour of Port Mahon. The bay is three miles
long ; its average width is only 400 yards, though in some places it is
three times that distance across, and runs away into many coves and
sheltered little nooks. We pass, on the left or western horn of the
entrance, the ruined fortress of San Felipe, which was built for
Charles Y. Here are the graves of many of the British soldiers.
Immediately opposite, on the more lofty and eastern horn of the
entrance. La Mola, w^e see numbers of Spanish w^orkmen busily
engaged in erecting large and very extensive fortifications, which are
said to have cost already more than 300,000/., and which would re-
quire 4,000 men at least to man them. A little further on we pass a
small rocky island on which stands the quarantine establishment,
opposite to George Town or Villa Carlos, on the western shore ; and
further on again two more islands, the larger one of which is covered
with the yellow walls of the hospital built by the English when
here, until we anchor, 4.30 P.M., in eight fathoms, just off English
Cove and almost alongside Point Figuera, round the corner of
which the town of Port Mahon icself is situated. We hoist the

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

heavy yellow and red folds of the Spanish flag at the main ; and
salute it just before the sun goes down with twenty-one guns.

Minorca, the second in size of the Balearic Isles — (that take their
name from Ballo, because their inhabitants were good throwers),
was early colonised by the Phoenicians, and afterwards passed
into the hands of the Carthaginians. It contains the finest harbour
in the Mediterranean, within it a large fleet of line-of-battle ships
can lie in seven fathoms of water safe from every wind that blows.
This harbour was called " Portus Magonis," either from some early
Carthaginian explorer of that name, or, as seems more probable, after
the younger brother of Hannibal himself, who, when he was ejected
from Spain by the Romans passed over to Minorca and spent the
winter there. The name has now been softened into Port Mahon.
The Spaniards have a saying about it that " the ports of the
Mediterranean are June, July, August and Port Mahon." The
possession of this harbour made the island of Minorca a bone of
contention among all the maritime powers of Europe throughout the
last century. In 1708 it was attacked by General Stanhope, and
capitulated. When the general was afterwards raised to the
peerage he received as one of his titles the name of the place which
he had v/on ; and thus, in the strange vicissitudes of human fortune,
an English nobleman bears the name of the brother of Hannibal
and also of the reputed founder of the Carthaginian empire itself
The English held it for nearly fifty years, till it was taken by the
French in 1756, but restored to Great Britain in 1763, and held by
us for another twenty years, then lost again in 1782, recaptured in
l798, but finally given to Spain by the treaty of Amiens in 1802,
as two years previous to that Malta had been acquired by us as a
Mediterranean harbour further east.

AT PORT MAHON.

Wind.

Temperature.

i Date.

8ea.

Air.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Oct.
11

KE. 1-2

6''4

7'i

12S.

N.E. 1

S.E. 1

S.E. 1-2

Variable 1

N.E. 4-7

. ■

N. 7-2

1879. AT PORT MAHON. H

Oct. ISth. — Soon after noon went ashore, met the vice-consul
(Don Gabriel Segui), and with him visited Don Jose Oliva's collec-
tion of pictures, amongst which are several Murillos, a Rubens,
a Memling, and others worthy of note. He had also a nice little lot
of old armour and antique pottery. In the afternoon went to hear
the organ played in the cathedral ; this is said to have been a gift
of George 11. when the English held the island. A selection of six
or seven pieces, most of them, however, dance music, was played by
the organist to bring out the effect of the various stops; we joined
him afterwards in the organ loft, and one of our number tried his
hand at playing the instrument. We then went on to the dock-
yard, which is on the opposite side of the harbour, which we crossed
in a couple of small boats, to see in the workshops there a little
model of an invention of the head carpenter's for striking and
swaying up topmasts without sending any men aloft. The machine
was worked by a crank on deck. Pretty enough as a model, but — .
There was also a very fair collection of models of various kinds
of ships. Then over the water back through the town, the houses
of which are very substantially built, with large blocks of stone of
a different kind from that found hereabouts : the streets are all
flagged and are cool and clean, as there is not much traffic in them,
and not more than- three or four wheeled vehicles in the whole place.
The stonework on the quay looks as if put together by English hands.
As a fact, nearly all the present government buildings were built
by our engineers when the island was in our possession, which was
the period of the island's greatest prosperity. We then went to
the linen manufactory, where we saw the steam looms at work, most
of the hands (over 350) engaged here are women. On returning on
board we had a good bathe from the ship's side.

Oct. lUh. — Bathed again before breakfast, and then at 10 A.M.
went ashore — a party of six ward-room and eight gun-room officers.
Met the vice-consul at the custom-house and drove up through
the town in " two coaches " (which were antique and rather shaky
omnibus-like constructions) to the Plaza, where he had ordered
three "jack-asses" to meet us and on to which three mids
transferred themselves. We went first to San Louis, along a
capital road made by the French (when they held the island), who
designed this to be the chief town, but it never grew beyond a few
houses, a church and a small market-place. After going about a
mile, or half way between Port Mahon and San Louis, we turned off
down a country lane, winding amongst walls of stone gathered off

12 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

the fields, to the Talayot Trepuco. This is apparently an ancient

altar in the shape of the letter "f, the table-stone, supported on the

summit of one other only, lies lengthwise, due north and south. In

all the fields, which are very stony and inclosed with stone walls,

there is very little growing except cactus, on which the prickly pears

are now ripe. Here and there, however, the surface has been scraped

by a plough, but with little effect, except to make still more

manifest the stony nature of the soil ; there seems scarcely an inch

of vegetable earth upon it anywhere. The land is cut up into

very small freeholds ; there are said to be no less than 2,000 such

holdings in the neighbourhood of Port Mahon. On again to San

Clemente, getting a fine view of the south side of the island, which

is broken up into a number of little bays and headlands. We

had brought our lunch with us in baskets furnished by the first

lieutenant, and these we now unpacked in a large and cool

salle-d-manger belonging to an unoccupied house of one of the

cousins of the vice-consul, from the garden in front of which there

was an uninterrupted vista seawards. Afterwards we drove on to

the Talayot de Dalt, also in the shape of the letter "J" : this points

endwise, due east and west. There is another large curious sloping

stone at an angle of 45° on its eastern side, as if to prop up this

end. Round this cromlech was a circle of stones, and also close by

two caves constructed of smaller stones like long flat-topped

pyramids, evidently for burial, apparently in imitation of a third

natural cave close by that had been used for the same purpose. As

the evening was now coming on we drove down the hill into the

town along the road, the sole remains of the French occupation of

seven years, and so off to the ship.

Oct. loth. — Bathed again in the sea, the temperature of which was
70°, and then off at 9 A.M. in " three coaches " — a party of eighteen
— for Monte Toro in the centre of the island, and higher than either
Snowdon or Ben Nevis. This day's excursion cost us 75s. lOd. ;
yesterday's cost in gross 48s. 8d. We drove along a dusty road up
to the head of the harbour, which extends quite half a mile beyond
the town. Many palm trees grew beside the road, which soon leads
over a broken bridge, and out through a more fertile country than
that we passed through yesterday. In the fields the peasants are
using the primitive wooden plough, which is more suited for this
rough and stony soil than would be that of the English. After
passing the village of Alayor, we arrived at the foot of the hill
about noon, and there left the " coaches " and walked up to the

1879. AT PORT MAHON. ]3

monastery which is perched on the summit. One young priest is
now alone in charge : he received us in the open courtyard, in the
centre of which was a large well whose sides and mouth were covered
with maiden-hair and other ferns, and then conducted us into the
chapel. We saw there the grotto where the sacred wood-carved image
of the Virgin — which had been hidden away when the island was
ravished by Moorish pirates — was deposited in haste and forgotten
until the mysterious actions and ruminations of a bull once more
disclosed to the faithful its whereabouts. We could not help bein^
reminded of certain Mithraic pictures when we saw the statue of
the Virgin with the bull at her feet. The little original wooden
image of the legend is shown up stairs behind the high altar ; and
all round in the small chapel close to it, is a collection of ex voto
offerings, consisting chiefly of Spanish sailors' hat-ribbons and shirts
and other portions of clothes, and the usual wax figures of limbs,
etc., as the goddess is held in special reverence by seamen, and her
shrine is visible on high from all sides as they approach the island.
Tt was only last year that there was a large pilgrimage of devotion
to this very spot on the occasion of the Papal jubilee. We lunched
in the old refectory, and afterwards went up to the top of the tower
of the convent, nearly 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, from
whence Majorca Was visible, twenty-five miles away to the south-
west. The whole island of Minorca, twenty miles long and eight
miles broad, bounded by the sea, glistening in the sunlight, and
with its coast indented by bays, lay at our feet. There is a strange-
looking line of dark hills, volcano-like, running right across the
island. Coming down we picked and ate the prickly pear for
the first time, and those who did so incautiously carried the
remembrance of it for some time afterwards on their lips and
fingers in the shape of little white and numberless soft thorns,
which had the faculty of intruding themselves everywhere. The
soft interior of the pears, of a bright orange colour, was very
refreshing in the warmth of the day, and the taste resembles a
mash of medlars slightly flavoured with hips and haws. The
vice-consul told us they were good for the health, and that he
himself consumed a dozen every morning for his breakfast with
his cup of chocolate. Going home, some of the mids skylarking,
got down to play banditti, and jumped out from the side of the
road to seize the horses' heads, but were left behind to walk home
by their comrades, who whipped the said horses on, and arrived
at the ship at 5.30 p.m.

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

Od. 15th. — After school landed with the captain and a couple of
our gunroom messmates to shoot partridges on the " Golden Farm,"
immediately to the east of where we lay. An old man went with
us with his dog Leila to show us the way. After walking up and
down in the furze and heather all the afternoon, the party, however,
only bagged three. There was a good wind and a few showers, and
we had a sharp appetite for our lunch, which we had brought in our
pockets and ate on the hillside under the shelter of some stones.
Another party went in a boat down the harbour and outside to try
and shoot pigeons, but were not very successful. The next day the
wind shifted round to the north and there was a change in the
temperature of nearly 10°.

PORT MAHOX TO PALERMO.

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Sail.

105
134
145

Steam.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Oct.

18
19S.
20
21

S. 66-30 E.
S. 74 E.
S. 85 E.

N.W.' 5-4
N.W. 3-4

S.W. 4-5

39-5

38-28

38-16

6-40

9-26

12-27

6*4
64
65
64

6°4
64
65
64

65
67
70
69

6°4
66
68
71

431

12.

tal distance

443 milt

;8.

Oct. ISth. — Left Port Mahon under steam at 2.15 p.m., and pro-
ceeded down and out of the harbour ; when clear of this we at
once stop steaming and raised the screw, made plain sail to a fair
wind from the north-west, our course being south-east, and thus went
on our way through the bright night towards the Sicilian shore.

J 879.

PORT MAHON TO PALERMO.

Oct. Idth. — Usual services, the wind nearly right aft and therefore
slight motion. The effects of the turron, a white rock made of
pressed almonds, sugar, and meal (the great Spanish sweetmeat),
which had been somewhat extensively purchased and eaten at Port
Mahon are manifestly visible in some members of the gunroom
mess, so that with a wise compunction, many cakes of it remaining
unconsumed were consigned to the deep.

Oct. 20th. — A beautiful bright day, and we are sailing as steadily
and smoothly as possible. By noon we have made 134 miles. Cape
Spartivento and Sardinia have been on our port beam all the morning.
At 11.30. P.M. we were all rousted out for night quarters.

Oct. 21st. — A fine bright morning, going along delightfully, over
six knots. Mids' drill with dumb-bells before breakfast started. At
9 A.M. the ^gades were on our starboard beam, and Maritimo, at
whose rocky appearance we were reminded of the vision in
Turner's picture, in the National Gallery, of the Cyclops. About
noon picked up the lovely coast of Sicily and opened the Bay
of Castellamare, whose slopes are clothed in vineyards down to the
water's edge, and with a valley running up inland, which in its turn
is covered with olive trees, while above, on the top of San Vito, is a
strange-looking fort. All the afternoon we sailed along skirting
the north coast of the island ; the line of hills, both those near and
those distant, being very picturesque with their reddish-grey and
sometimes purple colours. About 6 P.M. we tacked and rounded
the promontory of Monte Pelegrino and came in sight of Palermo.
We tacked several times to get into the bay, as the wind was very
variable under the high land, until it came off in a violent squall
with much rain, and we had to let go the anchor in thirty-three
fathoms, the cable running out to a clinch (150 fathoms) at 7 p.m.

AT PALERMO.

Date.

Wind.

I'EMPERATURE.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon

6 p.m.

Oct.

N.W. 4-7

N.W. 2-4

Variable 1

Calm

26S.

KE. 1

N.E. 1

16 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1870.

Oct. 22nd. — At 8 A.M. hoisted the Italian flag at the main and
sahited it with twenty-one guns, and at 10 a.m. the vice-consul,
Mr. Rose, came off to call, and was saluted on leaving with seven.
The weather was squally and showery with fitful gleams of sun-
shine ; no one landed except the captain to pay official visits. The
view from where we are anchored (about two miles from the shore)
is bounded by the high hill of Monte Pelegrino on the right, with
the statue of St. Rosalia on the summit ; round behind this stretches
the valley of Concha d'Oro ; immediately in front is the amphi-
theatre of high hills of bold and varied forms ; beyond Palermo the
monastery of Mon Reale is clearly visible on their slopes five miles
away, and the straight line of road stretching up from the town
to it.

Oct. 23rc?. — After morning school Eddy and three mids went
with the captain up Monte Pelegrino, and to the grotto where
St. Rosalia's bones were discovered in 1626.

Palermo is the old Greek and Roman Panormus. Founded by
the Phoenicians it became the capital of the Carthaginian posses-
sions in Sicily : was taken 254 B.C. by the Romans from the
Carthaginians — an almost virgin fortress which had never yet been
taken but by Pyrrhus — the Carthaginian capital of the island, the
head-quarters of its armies and fleets, and was held by Metellus
when he beat off Hasdrubal and took the first elephants as trophies
from the Carthaginians., and sent them up across the Straits of
Messina to Rome.

Seven years afterwards Monte Pelegrino was suddenly seized by
Hamilcar, to command Palermo, then in the hands of the Romans.
This hill, like Eryx, rises to a height of 2,000 feet, but on two sides
sheer from the sea : a third side rises equally perpendicularly from
the plain of Concha d'Oro, while by the fourth alone, which directly
faces Panormus at a distance of a mile and a half, is the plateau at its
top at all accessible. This stronghold Hamilcar seized, and held for
three and a half years, in sight of the Roman garrison at Panormus;
and in spite of all their efforts to dislodge him, left it at last only
of his own free will, to occupy a similar position elsewhere. At its
base is a little cove into which his light ships might run with pirate
spoil, accessible from the plateau he occupied, but not from other
parts of the shore. There was an abundant spring of water on its
summit, and the plateau he was able to cultivate with success.
From the rounded top that crowned the whole was a post of
observation to observe all the country round, and in case of need

1879. PALERMO. 17

it would be an acropolis. The ultimate result of Hamilcar's patient
struggles here was the victorious march of his son Hannibal on
Rome. Day after day he sallied from this natural fastness, like a
lion from his den, on to the fair plains of Sicily ; or with his
galleys from the cove to attack the other Roman towns in Sicilv or
Italy : till he retired to Eryx — a similar stronghold, forty miles to
the west, and held that for two years, till the battle of the ^gatian
Islands won by the Roman fleet over that of Carthage, ended the first
Punic war, the longest and the greatest the world had then seen,
and one in which, perhaps, the loss of human life was greater than
in any other war waged on earth, to be followed by twenty-two
years of peace. Sicily then fell wholly to Rome, but with its pros-
perity gone, which it has never wholly recovered, and its cities
wasted.

Oct. 24!th. — Landed at 10 A.M. with a party of six officers from the
ward-room, and a dozen from the gun-room, and went with the
consul, first to the museum, where we saw, amongst other things
the oldest Greek sculptures known, discovered in 1826, at Selinunte ;
the feet of the female figures, in the ten metopes, and their arms
and hands were of white marble, but not those of the male figures
which are of the same dark brown stone throughout. In the same
room were some old Phoenician stone coffins, and in the next many
Etruscan and Roman sarcophagi with reclining figures on top,
most of these rested on their left elbow, and each was holding an
obolus : the wistful, eager look on some of the faces, as they lay
waiting for Charon was very striking, that on the face of one figure
of a blind man especially so. In the same building there is a
large collection of pictures, but only a few are worthy of notice ; the
f hief treasure is a small triptych of the school of Van Eyck, which
is shown in a little room by itself, representing the Virgin with
Child between St. Catherine and St. Dorothy.

We then drove off in three carriages to Monreale, through the
town which forms a parallelogram, and is divided into four quar-
ters by four broad streets, and where these intersect in the centre
of the town there is an octagonal space with four groups of statues.
One street, the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele, over a mile long,
stretches straight away from the Porta Felice on the esplanade,
up past the cathedral and the palace to the Porta Nuova,
whence the road leads out to Monreale. The other main street
which cuts this at right angles is the Via Macqueda, which they
have rechristened Via Garibaldi. Up the hill to Monreale for the

VOL. I. c

13 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

crreater part of the way the tramcars run, until the road, about half a
mile from the church, becomes too winding. We were entertained
as we drove along by stories of the brigands, and one house just
outside Monreale, on the left-hand side of the road going up,
now in ruins, but still, in its square tower-like shape, bearing
evidence of its former strength, was pointed out to us as the spot
where, last year, a band of these gentlemen made their final stand,
and were shot down by Bersaglieri. We drive up to the front of
the church which we enter through the bronze gates at the end of
the nave.

The white marble sides of the basilica with the mosaic
pictures running along all round the church above, and covering
every foot of the walls and arches, represent scenes from the Old
and New Testament : they end with a giant figure of Christ over
the central apse, under whom is represented the Madonna on her
throne : the impression apparently sought to be conveyed, by the
whole, is the linking together of earth and heaven, by means of
the Incarnation.^

^ Sicily was conquered from the Arabs (1060) by the Normans, another offslioot
from the race who just about the same time took England from Harold. Under them
the Greek and Arab elements continued to subsist in the population, the Greek and
Arab languages held their own beside the Latin, and the established industries con-
tinued to flourish. The workshops for the silk embroidery and Arab and Byzantine
art were close to the ro3'al palace.

The mosaics date from the beginning of the eleventh century, and the earliest were
executed by designers who had come from Constantinople. They were assisted by
native workmen, their pupils drawn from the Greek and Arab population of the
island ; on the best the inscriptions are Greek, on the inferior, Latin.

Roger, son of the first Norman conqueror (d. 1154), assumed the title of King of
Sicily ; the best mosaics belong to his brilliant reign. The other churches of Palermo,
in the architecture of which early Christian, Byzantine, and Arab elements are fantas-
tically blended, are everywhere covered with mosaic pictures, in the Byzantine mode
of decoration iu all its splendour.

** The great mass of ornament produced in Sicily during the reign of King Roger
is a lasting witness of his exemplary government, under which, thanks to regular
administration and sound finance, this land enjoyed the highest prosperity. Court
patronage of art was interrupted during the licentious reign of his successor,
William I., who was sunk in Oriental luxury. But again under his grandson,
William II. (1166 — 1189), the last prince of this house, there arose the cathedral of
Monreale, begun 1172, through the private munificence of the king, and the chief
ecclesiastical monument of his dynasty. "

The mosaics at Monreale form a series more extensive and of greater richness than
those in the other churches. Stories from the Old Testament fill two rows along the
upper walls of the nave from the entrance ; they are bordered above by a rich ornamental
frieze with busts of angels ; the side aisles and the transept, as the continuation of these,
contain the whole of the Gospel story. The scenes from the childhood of Christ find
their place just at the arches of the central dome above figures of patriarchs and
prophets ; the Annunciation surmounts the arch of the tribune, as in the Capella
Palatina ; and again, as there, the vaulting of the apse is occupied by a colossal half-
length of Christ, while on the wall below this sits the Virgin enthroned with the
Child between two rows of saints. Two pictures of King William II., first as crowned
by Christ, and next as presenting the model of the church to the Madonna, arc placed

1879. PALERMO. 19

We went up into the choir, and into the sacristy, and were
shown the images of silver, and the jewelled crosiers and the
Archbishop's mitre and other treasures ; but many of these are
said to be sham. There was, however, an old chest with a real
Arabic inscription on top. We went on into several side chapels,
in one of which was some most intricate wood carving, both on
the doors and round the sides. From these we went out to the
cloister quadrangle with its arcade of pointed arches, twenty-
five on each side, and, after walking round, examined the 200
capitals of the pillars, no two of which are the same, though all are
most elaborately carved either with figures or foliage ; the pillars
themselves were originally adorned with different patterns in
mosaic, though this is now gone in many places. Then into the
refectory with its white marble floor, and a fountain in the centre
with St. Benedict looking down on the emptiness around, for since
the secularisation of the religious houses none of his followers
are allowed openly to show themselves in his habit. Here we
unpacked our baskets and had lunch : a few children looking on.
These youngsters we were told belong to a small school established
by government in some of the outlying buildings of the monastery,
the sole representatives of learning supported by the confiscated
funds of this once flourishing and world-famous endowment.

We drove back to the city, stopping at the Ziza (about a mile
outside the Porta Nuova), a square, Saracenic building of three
stories ; on one side is a sort of recessed hall, vaulted with
Alhambra-like decoration, and a fountain in the pavement below.

in the transept over chairs of state. The mosaics were all finished before the death
of the king, 1189.

"The Sicilian mosaics are free from all the barbaric features of Italo-mediseval art.
The old Byzantine tradition prevails in them, according to which everything is
prescribed and unalterable — the types, the choice of motives and figures, and the
mode of conceiving them, the arrangement of the picture in its given space, are
deeply-studied and invariably simple, so that the eye of the spectator quickly finds
itself at home," and is able to realise the symbolism wherein the mystery of the
Incarnation of the creative Word is always set forth in its various stages, past, present,
aiid future. "The principal figures are dignified and solemn, well proportioned, and
not too attenuated. Motives of great beauty and nobility often appear, as in the
angels in the dome of the Capella Palatina. In many of the saints dignity is often
near to grimness."

" Great precision is shown throughout in the fitting of the glass cubes — a point in
which these Sicilian mosaics far surpass those of Rome of the same period. The
gold ground everywhere prevails, and the colours are finely brought into accord with
it ; the modelling is powerful with delicate greenish-gi-ey shadows in the flesh, all
the colour effects attainable by the art, as shading with a second colour and laying on
the light of the draperies in gold, are brought into requisition."

This description of the mosaics is taken from History of Painting, p. 341,
Woltmaun and Woermann, edited by Sidney Colvin.

20 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

Then on to the Capuchin monastery, and down into the catacombs.
This was one of the sights of Palermo in most favour with the
blue-jackets ; nearly all found their way here when on shore. The
catacombs are lofty stone-arched vaults extending beneath the
church, and all along their sides, right up to the tops of the arches,
are deposited the bodies of the dead entrusted to the keeping of
the monastery. These bodies are first of all buried for one year in
the dry soil outside, which exercises a peculiar preserving power
upon them, so that when they are dug up at the end of that time
and brought into this place they can be then kept for as long a time
as their relatives or friends desire to come and see them on every
2nd of November, or All Souls' Day. The bodies are arranged in
every attitude, some sitting, others standing or lying down, and are
representative of every age and station in life — old and young, boys
and girls. In some cases alongside or on the breast of the
mummified and grinning skeleton of the dead is hung a small
likeness or photograph of the same in life, and in others the little
brown and dried-up corpse of a baby is decorated with silks and
lace, and laid out in a handsome cradle beneath a glass shade. The
whole effect is very ghastly. While we were there a man arrived
and asked to be shown the remains of his relative, and was at once
taken by the custodian down one of the aisles to the case said to
contain them ; affcer regarding these, however, for some time with
care, he began to whine and complain that they were not really
those of his friend, so was led piteously complaining up and down
the place until at last they found the right coffin.

Oct. 2oth. — Went with party to visit the cathedral. The old one
was built by an Englishman, who was archbishop here in the twelfth
century. Only the crypt of that now remains, and in that he is
buried. The pillars of the triple porch were formerly used in a Saracen
mosque. On first entering, the contrast of the Italian style of the
interior is very great to that of the Gothic of the outside. In the
south-west of the nave we saw the red porphyry sarcophagi and
hearse-like canopies of the Norman kings and German emperors,
dating from 11.54 to the close of that century; then up to the
shrine of St. Rosalia in the chapel on the south side of the choir, in
which are some beautiful arabesque carvings in marble. Behind a
brass grating in the wall is the solid silver chest weighing nearly a
ton made in 1631 to contain the bones of the patron saint.

After walking round the outside of the cathedral we drove to
the Palazzo Reale, and went into the Capella Palatina. It was

1879. PALERMO. 21

fortunately a sunny day, and thus the mosaics which incrust the
whole interior of the church, roof and walls, were able to be
examined. They are more impressive even than those at Monreale,
being smaller and older and more concentrated. Large coloured
plates of them are being published in a work entitled La Capella
di S. Pietro nella Begia di Palermo. This building was begun 1132,
and most of the mosaics were finished eleven years afterwards.
The pavement and lower panelling of the walls in marble and
porphyry surpasses in finish, if that were possible, even the works
of the South Italian mainland. The columns of the nave are
alternately of Egyptian granite and white marble. They come
from old Saracenic buildings. In the upper part of the pictures on
the west wall is a full length figure of Christ enthroned between
St. Peter and St. Paul; the centre nave has figures of prophets
between the arches, and scenes from the Old Testament ; on the side
aisles are the stories of St. Peter and St. Paul, and in the transept
the Gospel history. Grandest of all are the compositions closing in
the end. In the main apse the Virgin prays with uplifted hands,
enthroned among saints ; and in the vaulting there is a gigantic
half-length figure of the Saviour teaching, and two corresponding
half-lengths of apostles in the side apses. The Annunciation is
depicted above the arch of the tribune ; then come representations of
niches in mosaic, with saints in the drum of the dome, and above
in the dome itself stand the archangels with large wings ; each holds
in his right hand the wand of a messenger, and in his left the globe
marked with the sign of the Cross, as belonging to the Lord ; each
is habited as warrior, or deacon, or civilian ; and in the centre of the
dome is a picture of Christ's head as the Word, with book in left
hand, and the right upraised in blessing, the fingers arranged as in
Greek rite. The Greek inscription runs round the circle, " Heaven
is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet, saith the
Lord Almighty."

We then went to the church of S. Giuseppe in the city, and
down into the crypt beneath, where there is a strange shrine
containing the original mosaic of the Virgin, before which King
Roger was crowned ; and several other mysterious altars, before
one or two of which devotees were earnestly praying. Then to
La Martorana, which is being restored to its original size, and the
renaissance additions made in 1590 and 1685 removed. Beneath
the steps of the quadrangular chapel at the east end we saw the
foundations of the three old semi-circular apses. . The two mosaics

22 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

on either side the nave, King Roger crowned by our Lord, and the
admiral of King Roger dedicating his church to the Virgin, are the
only ones that were saved when the western end was taken down
in the seventeenth century. Scaffolding was erected all over the
interior, and apparently the ancient mosaics were being rather
knocked about. The pictures from the legend of the Virgin in La
Martorana (Santa Maria del Ammiraglio, founded 1143) were
completed, according to an inscription in the apse, A.D. 1148. The
semi-dome of the apse is here again filled with the bust of Christ ;
on the wall immediately below appears the Virgin between angels,
and two lower bands contain the apostles, while the w^alls and
arches of the presb}^^tery are decorated with busts and figures of
Old Testament personages and saints. The old square tower with
four stories, each smaller than the one below it, stands apart from
the church.

We drove thence to the Hotel des Palmes. This and the
Trinacria at the other end of the town are kept now by the same
landlord — Ragusa. He bought the house from Ingham, the wine
merchant. It contains numerous rooms opening on to a flat roof
and looking out into a pleasant garden, and on to the English
church close by. We had a regular Sicilian lunch, and tasted
many sorts of native wine. In the afternoon we drove out to
La Favorita, a Chinese palace built by King Bomba. We went
over this, saw the room painted to resemble the interior of a
damp and mouldy cavern ; even mildew and slimy fungi on the
roof were imitated. We saw also the room in which the dinner
was served without attendants, the table sinking beneath the
floor at the end of each course, and then rising again. The
best thing in the palace was the view from the summit, with its
two glimpses of the sea, one by Capo di Gallo at the northern end
of the valley, and the other beyond Palermo at the southern.
Returning we visited the Villa Whitaker and its fine gardens,
after walking in which some time we drove back in the dusk and
then went off to the ship.

On Monday the 27th the Bacchantes had their first cricket match,
it was played between two elevens of officers and men : first half
of the Alphabet against the second ; the latter winning, their
score being 124 against 118. We had lunch on the ground, which
was the plateau at the foot of Monte Pelegrino, from which
a wide view over the town. Some of the party besides set up
lawn-tennis nets. Before going off to the ship visited the

1879.

PALERMO TO MESSINA.

preserved fruit shop in the centre of the town, where there was
a glorious collection ; took a box on board and sent another home

to England to sisters.

PALERMO TO MESSINA.

Date.

Distance.
Steam.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon. [ 6 P.M.

Noon. 1 6 p.M

Oct.
28
29
30

120
13

E.2
S.W. 2-3
S.W. 3-4

64
69
69

66
70
68

68
68
67

6°6
66
65

Oct. 28th. — Had a good bathe from the ship's side before morning
drill. After sending our mails ashore we left the anchorage o&
Palermo under steam at about 4 p.m., proceeding thirty revolutions,
draught of water forward nineteen feet six inches, and aft twenty -
four feet three inches. When we weighed the whole bay happened
to be covered with small boats, the men in which were shooting
larks. These birds were making for the shore in great numbers,
migrating southwards from Europe, and were thus welcomed on
their arrival. For some time after we had got under way we
could hear the imitation bird-calls, used by the Sicilians to lure

24 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

them to destruction, and the almost incessant popping of the
scatter-guns. It was a beautiful moonlight night. Before turning
in we had passed Alicudi.

Oct. 2dth. — Up at 5.30 A.M. to see Stromboli and found we were
steaming slowly along its northern side which rose in a dark
triangular mass in the dusk of dawn, over 3,000 feet high. The
cone on the summit was only smoking, but halfway down the side
towards us three flames in succession broke out and played about
like will-o'-the-wisps. About 7 A.M. we heard a rumbling as of a
discharge of cannon. As you look up at the jagged edges of the
crater with a little imagination it would be easy to believe they
were figures of demons or anything else. We steamed slowly all
round the island, on the east side of which is a small village and
landing place, and then shaped course for the Straits of Messina.
After breakfast we saw Volcano, the most southerly of the Lipari
group smoking in the distance to the westward. Shortly after
11 A.M. passed Italian fleet, two ironclads and a gunboat steering
north. We saluted the rear-admiral's flag with thirteen guns as
we passed, which was returned by his flagship the Venetia. It
was afternoon when we steamed slowly down the straits and had
our first sight of the Scylla Rock on the Italian shore, and of
Chary bdis the small whirlpool formed by the tide under the
opposite shore of Sicily close to the Faro. The winds and
currents are, and must always have been, uncertain in these straits,
and their navigation for small sailing ships, especially when there
is very little wind and consequently a great deal of drifting,
difficult. The high table-land of Italy seemed to tower up on our
port-hand, and its mountain-perched towns, yellow-walled, flat-
roofed, and tiled, were exactly like the pictures we had seen of
them in Turner's illustrations. We anchored off" Messina outside
the harbour at 2.40 P.M. : and received here a despatch from
Admiral Hornby Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean
squadron recommending us to proceed to Catania as it was the
best place from which to ascend Etna as he himself had lately
done. He stated that he would be unable to meet or inspect the
Bacchante, but wished her a very pleasant cruise when she left
his station.

Oct. ^Oth. — Left tlie ship at 4 A.M. and landed, a party of
seventeen, in two boats at the quay, drove to the station and took
the train which left at 5 A.M. for Taormina. The railway runs

1879. TAORMINA. 25

along the coast within sight of the sea most part of the way, and

crosses several broad watercourses, at this time of the year dry

and filled with boulders ; it is only in the spring that they are

torrents ; the old forests have for the most part been cut down and

burnt, but the cactus hedges stretch away on all sides, as well as

the olives, some of the cactus trees of great thickness and age.

The monasteries have all been secularised and their lands sold by

the Government for two million pounds, those who first purchased

them have since resold them at much profit. The depreciation in

the currency so that twenty-eight francs of paper money is equal

to one pound English, tells its own tale. On arriving at Taormina

we walked up the hill, 700 feet above the sea, taking three-quarters

of an hour about it, to the Hotel de Belle Vue. Some of the

party rode on donkeys and a few went in the carriage, those who

walked were able to cut off the corners of the winding road. We

breakfasted at the hotel and afterwards walked through the town

by the Saracenic palace in the market-place and in front of the

church, with its painful statues of souls enduring the tortures of

purgatory, up to the peak of Mola, two thousand and eighty-three

feet, with the village of the same name at its summit. It was a

fine climb and the view looking down over the mountainous

valleys covered with vines and olives, and away to the sea, was

magnificent. We were to have gone up Monte Yenere, but it

was too wet and its summit was covered by a cloud. The top of

Etna too is cloud-covered to-day but the long and grand slope of

its eastern side stretching away up to the spot whence the recent

eruption took place and from which smoke is still issuing, is

clearly visible. We then walked on to Santa Maria della Rocca,

where the Saracenic ruin on the summit is finer than that on

Mola. All the soil hereabouts ' is volcanic, and we gathered

specimens of the three several kinds of lava that have been

ejected from Etna at various times, and which are very distinct

the one from the other. We then went back and up to the Greek

and Roman theatre which was the most interesting thing we saw

that day. It is difficult to say whether the view off' the terrace

on its very summit looking away towards the north, or that to the

south looking out across the ruined stage, is the more extensive

and impressive ; below on the left is the sea, blue and smooth, on

the right the mountain ranges green and brown, in front the red

Roman brick, and the grey marble of the older Greek building ;

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

all these colours contrast and harmonise together in the fore-
ground, while in the distance rises Etna in its majesty. We were
shown, amongst other antiquities, the torso of what is said to be
the Eros of Praxiteles. We walked down to the station past a
number of Saracenic tombs on the hillside ; they are hollow plastered
receptacles, each just large enough to contain a human body, and
arranged above each other in tiers, but have lately been cut through
by the road ; the bones of many Saracens are still lying in them.
We got into the train at 4 p.m., and were on board the Bacchante
again at Messina by 6.30 P.M.

MESSINA TO GIBRALTAR.

(

^-•^Wajorci

norea SAr'diNIA

SPAIN \

1.N0V.70.

^i^^l- 1

^c.P4/3. 4____ii::= °^

CILY /

^<t? i_^.^v-^^ ^^^\^^^.~~^^

^AC.Bon

.^^t=i=f^^v" ^

(

1 ^-^^_^y\^,^^ ** AFRICA

malta^

3lJ

3.W o* 6'E

•■■.«•■ '^1

Date.

From Previods Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

{ Distance. |

T,at.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon

6P.M

Noon. 6 P.M.

Oct.

38-21

157

Nov.

N. 88 W. ...

154

S.W. 1-2

38-25

11-52 1

2S.

S. 86 W. I ...

' 189

S W. 1-2

88 16

7-52 1

S. 80 W. 1 ...

162

N.E. 3-6

37-49

4-30

S. 79 W.

172

E. 3-5

37-16

0-58
W.

S. 75 W.

191

N.E. and

S.E. 6-4

36-27

2-53

^fS

N. 31

...

Oct. 31s^. — We left Messina at daybreak 6.30 A.M. and steamed
back up the straits, and after we passed Faro fell in with a nice
breeze to which we made all possible sail, steering to the westward.
The breeze, however, after breakfast died away entirely and we
remained under steam all the day. After evening quarters, usual

1879. MESSINA TO GIBRALTAR. 27

recreations on the quarter-deck, we were then passing close beside
Volcano, with Lipari, and Celina on our starboard hand, and at
midnight we passed Palermo on the port.

Nov. 1st. — At sunrise we can still see the coast of Sicily in the
distance, and at 8 A.M. we have the ^gades on our portbeam ; there
is no wind, and at noon Europa Point (Gibraltar) is distant 837
miles. After evening quarters there was more "slinging the
monkey," the secret of success in which, when you are the monkey,
appears to be to get well through the slings, otherwise if they are
close under the arms you are practically helpless. In the evening
we had four or five hours' fog. After dinner much amusement
trying to sit on an empty quart bottle on the deck, at the same time
holding a candle in each hand, one of which was lighted, and the
other to be lighted from it without rolling over,

Nov. Srd. — About noon a strong Levanter sprung up to which
we made all possible sail, stopped the engines, raised the screw
and so went bowling along between seven and eight knots ; this
lasted also the whole of the next day, so that on Wednesday, the
fifth, we passed Cape de Gatte at 8 A.M. and had a fine sight again
of the Sierra Nevada covered with snow. In the afternoon a
steamer (the Sicilian) steering eastward made signal that she
wished to communicate ; so we accordingly hove to and waited for
her to close us. In the meanwhile we were speculating as to
whether she had any news of importance for us from Gibraltar, or
whether she wanted the services of one of our two junior doctors.
Ail that was required, however, was a chart of the Adriatic which
the captain then sent on board in one of our cutters. She thanked
us and we both proceeded on our way.

Nov. 6th. — At 4.30. a.m. observed Europa Light, the southernmost
point of Gibraltar Rock bearing west by south, and soon after day-
light through the misty morning saw the dark shadowy form of the
island-like fortress towering up on the starboard bow. We altered
course and stood away under sail whilst steam was being raised ;
got the screw down and at 7.30. A.M. began steaming and came in
and secured alongside the New Mole by 9.40 A.M. Mr. G. A. Sceales,
assistant paymaster, joined. At 3.30 P.M. walked up from the dock-
yard along the Alameda to the Convent to call on Lord and Lady
Napier of Magdala, who have arrived since we were here a month
ago, and afterwards up to Captain Edye's to tea and eat fruit in
the garden. Another of our messmates of the same term as
ourselves in the Britannia passed to-day for midshipman.

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

AT GIBRALTAR.

Date.

Wind.

I'emperature.

Fea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

>Joon

« P.M.

Nov.

Variable 1

6*4

6°4

1 8

AV. 1-3

6.5

9S.

S W. 2-3

6.5

S.2-3

S.E. 1-3

Calm

Kav. 7th. — In the afternoon at 2.30 p.m. a party of four of us from
tlie gun-room started from the Mole on horses and were conducted
by Colonel Lempri^re, R.E., up to the Gun Rock, the northernmost
of the three highest points on the ridge. Here we witnessed some
curious practice made by men of the Rifle Brigade firing down on
to a target in Catalan Bay. Then on along the ridge to the signal
station the central point of the Rock 1294 feet above the sea.
All the ships passing the Straits are signalled from this station and
reported to the governor below and from him to Lloyd's. We see
the hills of Spain away to the north, with the Sierra Nevada in the
extreme distance ; across the Straits Ceuta (at the foot of the other
more lofty pillar of Hercules, Ape's Hill), thirteen miles away,
glistens on the African coast, and on the west, across Gibraltar Bay,
five miles distant, is Algesiras ; the town of Gibraltar fringes the
base of the rock on this side at our feet.

The Rock is six miles altogether all round ; its north, south, and
east sides are rugged and nearly perpendicular. It is on the west
side only that it is accessible from the sea; on this side is the town and
the fortifications. At the signal station we looked over the log-roll of
the monkeys, which is kept duly posted up every day both as to the
numbers that were observed, the hour, and the direction they were
seen to be coming from, and going towards. Yesterday twenty-two
were observed, but they are fast increasing in numbers ; as no one
is allowed to molest them. Then on to O'Hara's tower, the most
southern peak of the ridge (1361 feet), and down the rock-hewn Medi-
terranean stairs to the governor's summer cottage which being on the
eastern side of the rock is sheltered from the sun after mid- day, and

1879.

GIBRALTAR.

to Monkey Cove ; in the cave near which there was a huge fig tree
growing, and a number of birds perpetually flying in and out. We
then mounted our horses which had been sent round to meet us
below and so home through the Europa Point barracks to the
landing place. In the evening we dined at the Convent.

Nov. 8th. — Started at 9 A.M. with two messmates in the steam
pinnace and went right along past the town up to the landing
place on the neutral ground, where Colonel Lempriere met us
with horses, which we there mounted and rode along the beach
through the Spanish lines to San Roque, five miles distant, where

Scale of English Miles

? ■ 2 , 4 ■ 6 . 8 . I P ^

Strait of Gibraltar

we went into the bull ring (which was of course quite empty) and
after enjoying the view from the Alameda rode on to the Pine
Woods. Here Lieutenant Bartle Frere overtook and rode with us
the rest of the day. In crossing one of the streams the horse
ridden by one of the Bacchante s lieutenants lay down and began
to roll : the rider was chiefly disconcerted because the riding
trousers he was wearing were borrowed. We lunched in the Pine
Woods on the turf and afterwards again rode on through the
second Pine Woods, over rivers and by streams to the Cork Woods,
three miles further, with more than one scamper when there was
a stretch of turf; the best riding, however, was when we came down

30 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. .1879.

on to the sand of the bay which was quite firm. Here too, looking
southwards, the view of the Rock from end to end (three miles long
from north to south) is perhaps more effective than elsewhere. You
see the three summits — Gun Rock, Signal Station, and O'Hara's
Tower — and how completely isolated it is and parted off like an
island from the mainland of Spain. It has probably been lifted
at a comparatively recent geological epoch, for a marine sea-beach
exists at more than 450 feet above the present sea-level. The
highest point of the rock (1,467 feet high) seems nearly in the centre
of the quasi island, which is six miles in circumference. As the
sun went down, and the air became cooler after rather a warm
day, the ride home by the side of the waves that broke crisply
at our feet was most enjoyable.

Nov. dth. — Prince of Wales's birthday. At 8 A.M. dressed ship.
In the afternoon went for a walk in the lower galleries which were
tunnelled in tiers inside the precipitous north cliff in 1789 and
1790 ; they are simply rock passages two or three miles in extent
with loopholes here and there guarded by guns. Then to the upper
galleries which, constructed in the same way, wind about behind
the face of the north cliff of the Rock, till they lead up a huge
cave called St. George's Hall from which we looked out through
the open rock ports down on to Catalan Bay and on to the British
and Spanish lines on the neutral ground, as the sandy isthmus
connecting Gibraltar with the mainland of Spain is called ; a long
flat reach of about 200 acres scarcely above sea level. Looking up-
wards from the Windsor gallery the outline of a strange-featured
head is seen apparently on the Rock side. Colonel Lempriere
and Colonels C«)dcUngton and Mostyn of the 23rd Regiment met
us and took us round.

Gibraltar (the name this quasi island rock has held since the
Moors overflowed into Europe, is a corruption of Saracenic
Jebel-Tor, the Tower Mountain) was taken by the Spaniards from
the Moors in 1465, and by Sir George Rooke from the Spaniards in
1704 when garrisoned by only eighty men. France and Spain
laid siege to it continuously for four years 1779 — 1783. Its
importance as a depot for coal has greatly increased since all
war, and nearly all trade, ships are moved entirely by steam
power. It has now belonged to England for just three-fourths of the
length of time for which it belonged to Castile before us.

Nov. 10th. — At 2.30 P.M. regatta of Bacchante's boats and others
from garrison and town. During this there was a dance on board

1879. GIBKALTAR. 31

all the afternoon. Our launch won her j&rst victory. Towards the
conclusion of the dance the captain displayed his electric light for
the first time. The ship's company had extra-supper provided for
them in the evening in honour of the Prince of Wales's birthday.

Nov. 11th. — At 7 A.M. began coaling ship, and at 1.30 p.m. had
taken in 275 tons. General leave was given to starboard watch.
At 9.30 A.M. landed with commander and six midshipmen at the
jetty where Colonel Lempriere and Major Guilbard met us with
horses which we mounted and then rode along with Lord Napier
through the Spanish lines and by the beach to the first Venta,
the meet to-day of the Calpe hounds. The large cavalcade
then crossed the river, which was so swollen that the water was
above most of the horses' girths, and several of the hounds had to
be carried across by the huntsman, as the current was too strong
for them to swim. We soon found two foxes, the first of which
was killed at once, but the second gave us a good run of over an
hour, up hills, down ravines, among the rocks, in a most eccentric
manner ; though the riding was rough we enjoyed it very much
and then rode off to the second Venta, to which Lady Napier had
driven out, and where lunch was spread under the trees. After
this was over we raced each other back into Gibraltar over the
sands, taking care however not to get entangled with the fishing
nets which were spread out to dry all over the beach in front of
the village outside the lines. We had the same view of the
Rock as on Saturday, only to-day more than half of it is enveloped
in cloud. We got inside the gates just before duyk. The Colonel
and officers of the 71st Regiment, H. L. I., gave a dinner to
the Captain and officers of the Bacchante. Sergeant F. Taylor,
R. M. L. I., gymnastic instructor, who came out from England
in the P. and O. steamer, Bokhara, joined the ship to-day.

Nov. 12^A. — There was a cricket match to-day between the
Bacchante and the officers of the Rifle Brigade on the neutral ground
by the north front ; we walked out to this, but soon afterwards had
to return to the ship to see the Spanish Governor of Algesiras..
who had come over that morning in a gunboat to call on Lord
Napier and afterwards had gone to the Bacchante. We then went
to play lawn-tennis at Colonel Mostyn's. We dined that evening
at Captain Edye's and afterwards went to a dance at the Convent.
The dumb-bells and clubs are being made here.

Nov. ISth. — Had a good bathe in the morning at Rosia Bay.
Gave general leave to Port Watch (forty-eight hours). On board

32 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

at school as usual till 1 P.M., aud then to lunch with Colonel
Macdonald and the officers of the 71st Regiment at the Europa
barracks. After this, rode on ponies to St. Michael's cave, the
entrance to which is on the western slope of the rock, 1,000
feet up. The cave was illuminated by blue and green lights,
to see which several of the officers had come up. The stalactites
have been much broken and discoloured, but the high vaulted roofs
and weird darkness of the gaping distance were impressive. The
story is that these caves go down and narrow into a passage that
runs beneath the Straits right away to Ape's Hill near Ceuta, and
that the rock monkeys crossed this way. We then walked down
to a garden party at Captain Edye's to which Lord and Lady
Napier had come. Dined on board the ship and then went to
Garrison Officers' Amateur Theatricals, at which the Porter's Knot
and Critic were played. After this the officers of the Rifle
Brigade gave a supper in their mess-room close by.

Nov. \^th. — We went to Rosia Bay to bathe before breakfast and
stayed on board for usual school all the morning. Lord Ormonde
came to lunch from his yacht the Mirage. Dined in the evening
at the Convent, and afterwards went on the Alameda with Lord
Napier to see a torch-light tatoo of the troops of the garrison.
Unfortunately it came on foggy, though when the Highlanders
marched up and threw down their torches into the central bonfire
causing the whole gardens for a moment to be brilliantly lit up,
the effect as we stood on the steps at their southern end was
very fine.

Nov. lofk — Called at the Convent and bade good-bye to the
governor and Lady Napier and then on board, busy writing for the
mail to England. We cast off from the Mole at 4 P.M. ; the governor
came on board the last thing to wish us a pleasant cruise, and so
ended our ten days' very happy stay at Gibraltar, where every one
had been most kind and hospitable. We steamed across the bay
westward passing close by the Pearl Rock. Dark rainclouds
were hanging over the Spanish mainland, which as soon as the
sun set broke up with heavy showers, but the evening turned
out fine.

Nov. IQih. — Usual morning and afternoon service ; and after the
latter rove the screw purchase, up screw and made sail, though there
was scarcely any wind ; what little there was came from the north-
west ; we made scarcely a knot all the night. Saw our first whale
blowing this afternoon.

1879.

GIBRALTAK TO MADEIRA.

GIBRALTAR TO MADEIRA.

Date.

From Pkevious Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air. 1

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Nov.

...

S.W. 1-3

16S.

S. 71 W.

...

N.W. 2-3

35 31

7-10

S. 70 W.

105

E. 3-5

34-49

9-40

S. 69-30'W.

115

S.E. 2-5

34-9

11-50

S. 72 W.

135

S.W. 3-7

33-28

14-26

N. 53 W.

N.W. 5-7,
S.W. 2-3

34-8

15-30

S. 31 W.

N.W. 1-7

32-52

16-25

^429

215

Total distance 644 miles.

Nov. 17th. — Began using the new dumb-bells and clubs with
Sergeant Taylor before breakfast on the quarter-deck for drill. The
wind has shifted to the east, and by noon we have made good 150
miles, going all the morning between seven and eight knots as
there is a beautiful breeze. The contrast between the quiet and
routine of the ship and the rushing about on shore at Gibraltar is
very jolly.

Nov. 18th. — Still sailing along very pleasantly. At noon we had
made 115 miles, and are now 256 miles from Madeira. We began
our French with Mr. Sceales to-day, and shall have an hour apiece,
at least, with him every day. During the supper hour, nearly all
the gun-room were flying round at gymnastics with the new sergeant
and new gear, and two or three of the ward -room joined us and

VOL. I. D

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

stretched their muscles at the usual " after evening quarters." The
next morning was moist and clammy as the wind had shifted to the
west-south-west. At 1.30. p.m., the breeze, after going all round the
compass, sprung up from the south-south-west, when we wore ship
and made for the rest of the day six knots. On Thursday morning
(the 20th), however, it all died away and became variable, during
which we wore ship two or three times, until at 5 P.M. we got
the screw down, and at 8.30 P.M. commenced steaming. The
barometer is falling, though at present the night is bright, but
in the middle watch we fell in with a heavy cross-swell and the
ship began to show us what she could do in the way of rolling

" AFTER EVENING QUARTERS."

(30°), and this continued all the morning and day. We sighted
Porto Santo on the starboard bow at 7 A.M. on the 21st. As we
steam past, it looks a nice quiet bay sheltered from this heavy
swell from the south-west. Went to general quarters, amid rolling,
blowing and raining, but we got out of the swell as soon as we
passed San Lorenzo point. Came-to off Funchal at 5 P.M., saluting
the Portuguese flag with twenty-one guns. Mr. Consul Heywood
came off. The Himalaya, Captain Brent, was steaming out of
the roads with troops for the Cape when we arrived. They have
had very heavy weather from the south-west here during the last
few days.

1879.

MADEIRA.

AT MADEIRA.

Daie.

Wind,

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon. 6 P.M.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Nov.
22
23S.
24
25
26
27
28

N.W. to S. 7 2

S.E. 6-1

S.E. 1-2

N.W. toS.W. 1-4

S.W. 7-9

S.W. 10-5

W. to S.E. 7 1

69
70
69
69
69
69
68

70
70
70
79
69
69
69

6°8
71
72
69
68
70
68

65
69
70
70
64
68
66

Nov. 22nd. — No communication with the shore on account of the
surf and swell still running. In the afternoon we get up steam in
two boilers in case it be necessary to put to sea. Sunday, the next
day, was damp and uncomfortable, as we pitched and rolled to the
swell, but we had the usual services. On Monday, as there was not
much wind, some of the officers went off to the shore in the afternoon.
Amongst them was the captain and his nephew. These two
came off again from the Loo Rock with much difficulty, both in
getting the boat off from the shore on account of the surf, and in
getting alongside on account of the high sea, which was running in
from the south. The paymaster and the other officers were left
behind on shore. We had steam up ready for starting all night,
and the next morning lit fires under two more boilers and pointed
yards to the wind. There was a brig which had dragged her anchors
in the roads much closer in to the shore than we were. Her skipper,
who was on the Loo Kock, well out of it, was signalling instructions
to his men, as to what they should do in the event of her being
stranded. Their signals in reply seemed naturally more excited
than his ; but he told them to try and beach her, if possible, at
the point to which they found the crowd running, and that in the
event of her being broken up they would be well cared for. As
the swell was still increasing, we weighed anchor at 5 p.m., and
steamed away to the eastward, passing San Lorenzo Light at 8 P.M.,
and so getting round under the lee of the north side of the island.
Here we lay off and on all night ; and our example was followed by
a small Portuguese mail boat with one of their admirals on board.
It was a bright moonlight night, and though the wind was now

D 2

36 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

freshening from the south-west up to nine or ten, yet we lay-to
here quietly and with comfort.

Nov. 2Gt/L — Dropped a target overboard and pitched away shot
and shell at it, as the water was tolerably smooth, though there
was much wind with rain-squalls. At night the weather cleared
a bit, but we still stood otf and on. The clear-cut coast-line,
peaked and jagged, sheltered us from the gale which was
careering overhead, as was shown by the torn and fleecy clouds
scudding high aloft.

Nov. 27ih. — The wind has fallen a bit, shifting more to the west.
So we leave the north side of the island, passing round San Lorenzo
about 8 A.M., and find the swell has gone down very much on
the southern side. So steamed close in to observe the village, and
some sanguine persons imagined they could see the officers left
behind in Funchal walking over the hill to rejoin the ship. But
on arrival at our old anchorage off the Loo Rock at 11.15 A.M., we
found that they had spent a pleasant time at Myles's Hotel, instead
of wandering over the island. Fitful evening, but quiet on the
whole. The next day broke fine, and as it was the last chance
any of us would have of going ashore, some of us went in the
afternoon, and had a run.

We received on board the new gymnastic things, parallel bars,
vaulting horse, etc., which have come out to us from England ; and
the captain received at the same time his new electric-light
apparatus, which was intended to be worked by hand by means
of cranks and wheels. When he ordered it, he imagined it would
be very useful for carrying to the top of a mountain, or down into
a cave, for illuminating purposes ; but was much disappointed at
finding that when put together on the upper deck it occupied
the whole space under the poop, and would require at least a dozen
hands to lift it at all.

Nov. 29lh. — Wrote up our mails for England and sent them to
the care of the consul; and at 2 p.m. weighed and cast to port under
topsails, then rove screw purchase and up screw. There was a nice
little breeze from the north-west, which took us along over five
knots, so that the island of Madeira was soon below the horizon. Our
course was south-half- west, and the wind being aft we set starboard
stunsails.

Dec. 1st. — The Princess of Wales's birthday. The wind has been
dying away, and we have scarcely been making one knot an hour
on an average during the whole of yesterday, and the whole of to-

1879.

MADEIRA TO TENERIFFE.

day. It has gone round from the north-west to east, and then to
south, and is drawing round now to the south-west, which is a dead
head wind for us to make Teneriffe under sail. At 2.15 P.M. on
sighting the Peak snow-covered, and without a cloud upon it, we
tacked and stood off from the land. Tacked again at 8,20 P.M.

and again at 11.30 P.M.

MADEIRA TO TENERIFFE.

Kpalma

LANZAROTE^

FUERTEVENTURA

Canary

CANARIA

Islands

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

1 Distance.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

course.

Wind.

Sail. 1 steam.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon

6 P.M.

Nov.

S. toW.1-3

308.

S. 11 E.

N.W. to

31-6

16-35

Dec.

N.E. 3-1

N. to S.W.

30-11

16-36

S. 40 E.

S.W. 4-5

29-20

15-47

S.W. 6-1

286

Tot

al distanc

B... 305 mil

3S.

Dec. 2nd. — All day the Peak has been in sight, still clear of
cloud and promising well for our hoped-for ascent. There is a very

38 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

decent breeze to-day, only unfortunately it is foul. We go through
the water over six knots, and throw a tack every watch, trying
to beat up to our anchorage, but at noon we are still forty-nine
miles from Santa Cruz.

To-day and yesterday we have been much interested in reading the
Hakluyt Society's Edition of the Conquest of the Canaries in 1402.
A Norman baron, Bethencourt, and a knight, Gadifer, smitten with
the spirit of adventure, set out together from La Rochelle on May-
day 1402, for a half crusading, half free-booting expedition to these
" Islands of the Blest," which up to that time were still, for Europe,
on the borderland of romance. They came hither with " a company
of fifty-three people," and found the natives (as nearly all natives
seem ever to be when first they come in contact with Europeans)
very friendly. " They lived in caverns in the hills, and were very
strong in body and mind ; they painted themselves beautifully in
red, green and yellow." " They sang very sweetly, and danced almost
as well as Frenchmen ; they were gay and merry, and much more
civilised than the Spaniards. They refused wine and only drank
water. They showed remarkable faithfulness and honesty, for if
any one of them received anything good to eat, before tasting it,
he divided it into portions which he shared with the rest." They
kindled fire by rubbing one stick against another, they used iron
for fish hooks, but shaved themselves with stone. "Each tribe
had two kings, one dead and one living ; for they kept the dead one
till his successor died and took his place." The inhabitants of the
five islands spoke different languages and could not understand
each other. The islands seemed to have been peopled by two
distinct races, the Berbers and Arabs. Bethencourt called them
" heathen Saracens." They worshipped on the tops of the mountains
in stone circles, with offerings of butter and libations of goat's
milk. Bethencourt went back to Spain, eight days' sail to Seville,
to fetch more Christians to this " earthly paradise ; " and did
homage for the lordship of the islands, not to his own French king,
but to the king of Castile, as the nearest Christian sovereign, who,
however, was rather surprised to see him, for he had never heard
of them before. The baron having got all he wanted from the
king in money and help, returns to the Canaries, but finds things
have not been going on over well during his absence. There have
been quarrellings and other ill deeds amongst some of his mixed
company of adventurers. His faithful knight, Gadifep, had indeed
conquered and baptised many natives, " in spite of the contempt

1879. NORMANS IN CANARIES. 39

into whicli the Christian faith had fallen by the treachery of its
professors : the natives imagined that our faith and law could not
be so good as we represented, since we betrayed one another and
were not consistent in our actions." The baron and the knight
the original heads of the expedition, fell out together, and went
ho-ine in separate ships to argue their cause before the King of
Spain. Gadifer retires to his old home in France. Bethencourt
remains sole king of the Canaries : he pays a visit to his wife in
Normandy — "never had monsieur rejoiced so much at meeting
madame," — for whom he had brought many curiosities as presents
from these distant countries. He wished, however, to return as
soon as possible, and take as many people as he could from
Normandy. " I wish to take with me people of all the different
trades that can be mentioned or thought of; and to those who
come I will give sufficient land to till, if they will only undertake
the trouble. There are many mechanics in this country who have
not a foot of ground of their own, and who live very hardly : now
if they will come with me yonder, I promise them that I will do
the best for them that I can ; better than for any others that may
come in future, much better even than for the natives who have
embraced Christianity." He took eight score of those who
volunteered from the neighbourhood of his Norman home, and set
sail again on the 9th of May 1405, with a far fairer company than
the adventurers who first went with him three years before. These
had killed many natives and " reduced the others to such extremity
they knew no longer what to do, but came from day to day to
throw themselves on their mercy, so that hardly any now remained
alive who were not baptised, especially of those who might have
given trouble and been too much for them." In 1406 the baron
started once more, and travelled to Rome with letters from the
King of Spain, to ask the Pope to give him a bishop for his two
hundred baptised natives. Before leaving, he held an assembly of
the chief men of the islands, and bade them " as near as you
possibly can to observe the customs of France and Normandy in
the administration of justice and all other points ; above all things
let there be no envy or rivalry, but keep at peace among yourselves,
and then all will be well." He appoints his nephew as lieutenant-
governor of the islands, and apparently tired with his four years'
efforts, settled himself down henceforth to enjoy his old age at ease
in his native land. Having, however, a young wife, he is consumed
with jealousy, quite unreasonably. A few years after her death he

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

ended his stormy life in 1422, just as he was preparing once more,
after sixteen years' absence, to go and see his island kingdom again.
He left the Canaries by will to his brother. His nephew had been
displaced from his lieutenant-governorship for tyranny in 1414, and
after ceding the islands to the governor sent by the King of Spain
to replace him, fled and secretly sold the sovereignty (which was not
his) to the Portuguese Prince Henry, the navigator, thus hoping to
embroil the two nations. The Portuguese claimed the Canaries
under a former grant from the Pope, made in 1334, and it was not
till 1497 that Spain, under Ferdinand and Isabella, acquired the
undisturbed ownership of these islands, which she has held ever
since, but which were gained for her by the valour and energy of a
French baron in one of the very earliest attempts of his nation at
conquest and colonisation. The story of his efforts reads in some
respects like a page of to-day's rather than of media3val history.

Dec. Srd. — At 6.30 A.M. rove screw purchase and down screw, as it
is now a dead calm; at 7.30 A.M. commenced steaming, having
shortened and furled sails. Exchanged numbers with H.M.S.
Atalanta, Captain F. Stirling, which is just leaving Santa Cruz
under sail for the West Indies. She unfortunately lost two hands
in the gale, which we rode out under the lee of Madeira, but which
caught her midway between that island and this. At 11 A.M.
stopped steaming, and came-to in twenty-five fathoms off Santa
Cruz ; once again saluted the red and yellow flag of Spain with
twenty-one guns.

AT TENERIFFE.

Date.

Dec.
4
5

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea. Air.

Noon.

69
69

Op.h.

Noon.

ep.M

Variable 1
Variable 1 "2

6°9
69

70
70

It is very warm here, thermometer in cabin under poop showing
nearly 80°, fifteen degrees warmer than when we left Madeira.
In the roads is lying the French two-decker (La Tage) filled
with convicts on their way to Cayenne ; she sailed soon after we
anchored. The Spanish commandant came off, and was saluted
on leaving with seventeen guns ; and after him the captain of the
port in a dingey and a splendid uniform, who was saluted with

1879. SANTA CRUZ. 41

nine guns ; then came Mr. Edwards the British vice-consul and
Mr. Hamilton. With them we landed after lunch, and went to
the museum, which is arranged in what was once an old convent.
There there are some very curious Guanche skulls, skeletons and
mummies, some of which the custodian said he should be very
happy to exchange with other museums for skulls and remains of
other early races. They are found chiefly deposited in tufa caverns
(sometimes beautifully painted) in the hills in Teneritfe and Palma ;
in the Great Canary they are inclosed in mounds of a conical or
pyramidal shape. "The natives of Teneriffe called themselves
Guanchinet, which the Spaniards corrupted into Guanche. Guan
meant person, and Chinet was the same as Teneriffe ; so the two
words combined meant ' men of Teneriffe ; ' of all the islanders
they held out longest against their conquerors, and were not
subdued till 1496." Outside the museum, on the Plaza, is the
fountain with the statues of the four Guanche kings who were
converted to Christianity by the first Spanish settlers in 1492.

We then went to the cathedral to see the two English flags
which Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson lost here on July 24th, 1797 ;
they are both Union Jacks without St. Andrew's Cross, and they
are both very much larger than the ordinary flags used nowadays.
They are kept rolled round their staffs in two long glazed wooden
cases arranged on each side of an altar in a chapel on the north
side of the nave. To-day they were taken down and placed on a
large table in the vestry and unrolled for us to handle and examine
conveniently. Four ships of the line, three frigates and the Fox
cutter, formed his squadron ; they were anchored two miles north
of the town. The boats pulled in for a night attack on the mole,
led by Nelson in that of his own ship the Theseus. The night was
exceedingly dark, and most of the boats missed the mole and went
ashore in the surf. The mole was carried by five boats, but Nelson
lost his right arm by a gunshot wound just as he was landing ; his
life was saved by his lieutenant, Nisbet, who was also his stepson.
Those of the British who had landed — in all about 300 men —
pushed on to the great square but found the Spaniards in too strong
force for them to take the town. The Spanish governor courteously
found them boats off to the ships, and treated our wounded very
well. Admiral Nelson took charge of his despatches to the Spanish
Government, and thus actually became the first messenger to Spain
of his own defeat. He lost in all — killed, wounded, and drowned —
250 men in this affair. We then mounted to the top of the tower

42 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879,

from whence there is naturally the best view over the town,
which contains 11,000 inhabitants. The slopes of the hills on this
eastern side of the island are almost completely bare of all
trees and verdure, excepting that there are whole fields of dwarf
cactus bushes, the leaves of which are carefully covered over with
little white caps of calico and thus present at first sight a very
queer appearance. These bags are thus secured to keep in the little
cochineal insect, which, after being fattened on the leaf, is in due
time harvested and pounded up for dye. It is a curious thing
that as long ago as the time of the Emperor Augustus the
Canaries were called The Purple Islands, on account of the dye
produced from the orchil, a lichen still found here and in the
Cape de Verde islands. The Latin explorers reported one island
was named Canarie "by reason of the large dogs, or African
greyhounds, found thereon." Kanarr, however, is still the name
of a tribe in Barbary, with which probably the Guanches were
connected.

Dec. Uh. — We landed — a party of four ward -room officers and
nine from the gun-room, — walked up along the newly-constructed
pier to the consul's, and met there three carriages that had been
hired for the trip, and Mr. Kenshaw with his own barouche. Into
these we settled ourselves, putting what little gear we had into the
smaller of the three. We then drove up the hill to Laguna, a
town halfway across this northern neck of the island, which is
about sixteen miles in width. The whole of the southern and
larger part of the island of Teneriffe is covered by the base of
the Peak, thirty-six miles across at its widest part, one of the largest
volcanic cones known. The ascent to Laguna was very steep and
hot. The road, though well constructed, was to-day uncommonly
dusty, and several of us were only too glad to shorten its many
windings on foot. Arrived at Laguna, over two hours from
Santa Cruz, we went into Mr. B. Renshaw's house, which is
arranged, like most of the large old-fashioned mansions in the
broad streets of this deserted town, in cool Spanish fashion round
an open quadrangle with a garden in the centre ; here he had
kindly provided luncheon for us, after enjoying which we drove
on over fertile plains covered with corn, and here and there
interspersed with huge palms and other trees, to Orotava, twenty-
two miles from Santa Cruz, where we arrived at 3 P.M. The whole
of this western side of the island, with its rich greenery and
gradual instead of precipitous slopes, no longer barren but covered

1879. OROTAVA. 43

with rich volcanic soil, is a raost striking contrast to the eastern
side with its yellow and dusty nakedness. At Orotava Mr. Reid,
the vice-consul, met us and walked with us down to the Botanical
Gardens, and then back to the town to the Dragon tree {Dracoena
draco), of which there are now only a large heap of fragments.
It used to be fifty feet round the base, and Humboldt held it to
be 10,000 years old. One branch of this tree, blown off in a storm
in 1867, is at Kew. In another garden there is a very queer
chestnut tree, rooted and flourishing in a fork formed by the
branches of an older tree. Both these gardens belong to Irish
gentlemen who have become Spanish marquises : they were both
very cordial in receiving us. It was now getting dusk, but we
looked into one of the churches which was lit up for evening
service, and to which many of the peasants were trooping in ;
they are the descendants of Spanish and Norman-French settlers,
with some Guanche blood intermixed. Their dress is very simple ;
it consists of a thin white undershirt, and over their shoulders
a white blanket : when they are working in the fields in the
heat of the day, the blanket is thrown on one side, and only
resumed in the chill of the evening. The dress on the whole
is a striking one, and seems just what is wanted for the sudden
changes of heat and cold of the climate. It may be the exact
counterpart of the " tunic " and " cloak " worn by the Greeks
when they first penetrated, ages ago, to these " Islands of the
Blest." The only drawback is that the blanket is apt to become
very dirty from being used night and day. We dined at the hotel,
not at all a bad dinner, and afterwards,, as there was a piano in the
sitting-room and bare boards, an impromptu dance was arranged
by the youngsters, who did as best they might without lady partners.
In the midst of this, an eccentric gentleman appeared upon
the scene, who introduced himself as having known the Prince of
Wales when he was an undergraduate at Cambridge. He told us
that he had brought the Alcade of the town, who wished to pay
his respects to the party, and then went out to fetch him in from
the next room. Returning with him and a couple of town
councillors (neither of the three understood a word of English but
were dignified and well mannered), he proceeded to "introduce
them" to us, but the introductory and rambling speech was all
about himself and his own early days. So after shaking hands
with the Alcade and thanking him for his goodwill and attention,
we dismissed the assembly and shortly afterwards retired to rest ;

44 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

some of the party slept well and comfortably, but others were
terribly flea-bitten.

Dec. 5th. — All up at 2 A.M., and started at 3 A.M. for the Canadas
on ponies. These made their appearance by twos and threes, and
were variously caparisoned. Mr. Reid joined us and we pro-
ceeded, a long cavalcade of sixteen, out of the town, and up through
the lanes and fields to the hillside above. The stars are all shinins:
clear overhead, and there is not a cloud in the sky ; the moon is
setting just over where the peak should be, thougli at present from
where we are it is shut out from view. The guides who run beside
the ponies seem to know the path though it is still dark ; we cross
the pebbly beds of two or three streams, and by and by the dawn
begins to break. We halted for a few minutes at the foot of one of
the stone gullies, and admired the rosy hght on the snow of the
Peak, which now stood out perfectly clear on our right. The sun
itself was for more than an hour hidden from our view by the
precipitous hills on our left. These are perfectly bare of every
scrap of verdure, and are composed of brown pumice stone and
lava, and are full of gullies and ravines. We longed to get to the
top of this ridge in order to look over and see the sun rising from
the sea on the eastern side, but the path wound away to the right
and rendered this impossible. In some places it is very rough and
so steep that we have to dismount, but at last we arrive on the
plain of the Canadas, a circle twelve miles in diameter, the largest
crater known, on the south side of which the cone of the Peak
rises 500 feet higher. Here it is bitterly cold and there is no
shelter ; we gather some of the dry retem shrubs and make a fire
and prepare breakfast, as it is now between eight and nine o'clock.
We were all uncommonly hungry, and the morning air at over 7,000
feet above the sea on the Canadas gave a still keener edge to our
appetite ; some tinned sausages warmed over the fire were very
popular. After climbing to the top of two or three cairns further
on in the plain, whence we can look down on the eastern slopes and
distinguish the Great Canary and Fuerte-ventura on the dark blue
horizon, we turned, and rode away to the westward under the
base of the cone to Realjo, from whence we see the Island of
Palma on the north-west, and from here made our descent.
From this point we get one of the finest views we have ever
seen. These be the gardens of the " Hesperides " as known to the
Carthaginian colony at Cadiz ; they stretch away, an amphitheatre
facing to the west, bounded at the southern end by Icod, and at

1879. TENERIFFE. 45

the northern by Matanza ; between which two there is a long slope
of everlasting fertility and loveliness, just like the slope of Etna,
only here, besides the maize and rich green crops, we have the
palms and bananas and other semi- tropic foliage. Yonder is the
highest peak on which Greek eyes ever rested — the Atlantean
pillar of heaven. Hither came the wanderers Perseus and Herakles
in search of the golden fruit guarded by the dragon, the remains
of whose dragon tree we saw yesterday in Orotava. The arms of
Tenerifife still show, St. Michael standing on the summit of the
Peak which vomits flames, as he conquers the dragon. The
Atlantides were probably the personification of the smaller islands
that cluster round Teneriffe, and with it are the sole remains of the
continent of Atlantis sunk long since beneath the Atlantic waves.

It is now very warm, but very beautiful, and we enjoy some
fresh oranges, the golden apples of the Hesperides (unless those
last were pineapples), which we get fresh picked from a small
cottage garden by the roadside. We were shown some very young
dragon trees that were planted as slips at the time of the Spanish
conquest 400 years ago ; they are scarcely yet a foot in circumference,
so extraordinarily slow is their growth. We arrive at the hotel in
Orotava by 2 p.m., having been just twelve hours out, and on the
move the whole time, with the exception of half an hour's halt
for breakfast. We lunched at once, and made a start in the car-
riages at 3 P.M. We had our last look at Orotava from Matanza,
and it was dark by the time we reached Laguna (eighteen
miles). We arrived at Santa Cruz, the return journey being all
do WD hill, and got off to the ship by 8 P.M. After dinner most of
the party again went ashore, to a ball given at the Consulate by
Mr. Edwards to the captain and officers of the Bacchante, which
was the event of the evening at Santa Cruz, all the ladies of which
honoured it with their presence. A Spanish polka-like dance was
very popular. Santa Cruz is only four days by steam from Cadiz.

Dec. Qth, — Finished mails for England and sent them ashore with
Mr. Edwards, who came off to lunch together with Mr. B. Renshaw,
the American gentleman, who kindly lent us his carriage yesterday
to go across the island. At 3 p.m. we got under way, under steam,
as it was perfectly calm, and proceeded round the south end of
the island and so bade good-bye to Teneriffe and the Old World,
and started on the track of Columbus for the New, following almost
in his very footsteps, for it was from Gomera, one of the Canaries,
that he set sail on his first voyage in 1492 across the Atlantic and

46 CRUISP: of H.M.S. bacchante. 1879.

arrived at the West Indies, and it was from Gomera he started
again in the following year, and again in 1498 and in 1503 ; here too
Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, anchored in 1504. We steamed
between this island and Ferro, where " there are some trees
which are always dripping with a most clear delicious water,
which falls into a pool near the trees, formed by the continual
dropping. It is the most excellent for drinking that can be found
anywhere. The quality of this water is such that, if any one had
eaten till he could eat no more, and were to drink of this water,
in one hour the food would be entirely digested, and the man would
have as great an appetite as he had before having eaten."

At 5 P.M. made plain sail on the port tack to a nice little breeze
from the south-east, which carried us along all that night between
seven and eight knots under steam and sail.

Dec. 7th. — Holy Communion, usual services, Bible classes, etc.
Steaming all day off and on, stopping the engines for an hour or so
at a time. By noon we had made 137 miles.

Dec. 8th. — Light airs from the south-west. At 9.30 A.M. short-
ened and furled sails and pointed yards to the wind, for what little
there is, is dead ahead. The midshipman's half-yearly examination
began. In the afternoon we were reading the Life of Columbus.
When the sun went down there were a number of dark clouds about,
but the whole sky was one mass of bright colours one of which
was a peculiar greenish blue. There were apparently two sun-
sets, one after the other in succession ; the colours of the first died
out and then brightened up again. More than once after watching
the sunsets and sunrises at sea did we turn up and re-read
Mr. Kingsley's words : —

" The evening skies are fit weeds for widowed Eos weeping over
the dying sun ; thin, formless, rent — in carelessness, not in rage ;
and of all the hues of early autumn leaves, purple and brown, with
green and primrose lakes of air between ; but all hues weakened,
mingled, chastened into loveliness, tenderness, regretfulness, through
which still shines, in endless vistas of clear western light, the hope
of the returning day. More and more faint the pageant fades
below towards the white haze of the horizon, where, in sharpest
contrast, leaps and welters against it the black jagged sea ; and
richer and richer it glows upwards till it cuts the azure over-
heard; until, only too soon

* The sun's rim dips, the stars rush out,
At one stride comes the dark ; *

1879.

TENERIFFE TO BARBADOS.
TENERIFFE TO BARBADOS.

60 ' , 60'

, 1 , , , , r*, , , , 1 , , , , ^°', , , , 1 , .

20'
10*

Canarjr Is.

P»lm.O I'.nerif.

v^arV'/

\. 3^7 7 '• /

20'

10*

d.-i-

-^^-4

15/ -■C<,-^-^"'"'\ at.Ni.hola.

^7 /,o ; i „ C.de Verde ^ /

V,24 \ 23

21 20

DEC.1879

30* ' 60'

' 40" ' 30' ' 20°

(The second course traced is that of H.M.S. Atalanta, the last taken from her log.
It is here given as showing how she met the same peculiar winds on her
passage that the Bacchante did).

Datk.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Dec.

...

Calm.

...

7S.

S. 37 W.

117

S.E. 2-5

27-0

18-19

S. 66 W.

128

S.W. 4-2

26-7

20-38

S. 55W.

134

W.S.W. 1

24-48

22-39

S. 52W.

141

S.W. and
KW. 2 1

23-21

24-41

S. 60 W.

157

N.W. 1

22-2

27-9

S. 62 W.

145

E. to S.W. 1

20-54

29-26

S. 62 W.

134

S.W.toKW.

1
S.&N.W.1-3

19-52

31-31

14S.

S. 64 W.

130

18-54

33-34

S. 40 W.

N.W. 3-5

17-35

34-37

S. 42 W.

100

N.W. 5-6

16-14

35-52

S. 44 W.

117

N.W. 5

14-50

37-16

S. 40 W.

N.W. 4-1

13-58-

38-2

S. 66 W.

N.W. 1-2

13-27

39-11

S. 84 W.

142

N.E. 2-3

13-11

41-42

21s.

S. 86 W.

164

N.E. 4

13-1

44-30

171

N.E. 4-5

13-1

47-49

N". 89 W.

181

N.E. 3-4

13-2

50-55

N. 89-40
W.

256

N.E. 4-6

13-3

55-20

...

219

N.E.

...

^400

2321

OS.

T0I

tal distanc

e... 27

21 mil

48 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

to be succeeded, after the long balmy night, by a sunrise which
repeats the colours of the sunset, but this time gaudy, dazzling,
triumphant, as befits the season of faith and hope. Such imagery,
it may be said, is hackneyed now, and trite even to impertinence.
It might be so at home ; but here, in presence of the magnificent
pageant of tropic sunlight, it is natural, almost inevitable ; and the
old myth of the daily birth and death of Helios, and the bridal joys
and widowed tears of Eos, re-invents itself in the human mind, as
soon as it asserts its power — it may be its sacred right — to
translate nature into the language of the feelings. And meanwhile,
may we not ask — have we not a right, founded on that common-
sense of the heart which often is the deepest reason, to ask — ' If
we, gross and purblind mortals, can perceive and sympathise with
so much beauty in the universe, then how much must not He
perceive, with how much must not He sympathise, for whose
pleasure all things are, and were created ? Who that believes
(and rightly) the sense of beauty to be among the noblest faculties
of man, will deny that faculty to God, who conceived man and
all besides V " (At Last, pp. 11, 12).

Dec. dth. — We continue under steam 5'8 knots, hoping for the
north-east trade-wind, but in vain. In the afternoon a swell came
up long and heavy from the north-west, and happening by its
periods just to suit the ship, rolls us nine to the minute all night
through. Several sail in sight, one of them supposed to be the
Atalanta.

Dec. 10th. — Bright and sunny, but, alas ! no wind ; examination
still going on ; entered the tropic of Cancer at 10 A.M. In the
afternoon exchanged colours with a German ship bound from
Antwerp to the Floridas. At sunset two sail in sight; got into
white jackets for dinner for the first time. The next day at noon
we were just under two thousand miles from Barbadoes. There
are nearly a dozen sail in sight, they are evidently becalmed and
waiting for the " trade " which never comes. In the evening a little
breeze for two or three hours comes up from the south-east and we
are able to set fore and aft sails. To-day began to read the Earthly
Paradise, and suppose we are on the track of those Northmen;
certainly "the steely plain of sea" looks this evening as if one
could get out and walk upon it, " so unlike any liquid as seen near
shore or inland is this leaping heavy plain, reminding one by
its innumerable conchoidal curves not of water, not even of ice,
but rather of obsidian."

1879. TENERIFFE TO BARBADOS. 49

Dec. 12th. — In the early morning much lightning away to the
north-east, what little air there is being from the south-west.
Regular doldrum weather, the very flying-fish seem lazy and go
scuttling along only just above the surface of the water like little
birds. We are now two hundred miles within the northern limit of
the north-east " trades " in winter, but not a breath of one have we
yet felt. Had a turn at gymnastics in the afternoon ; and at 5 P.M.
observed an American full-rigged ship on the starboard beam with
a signal flying, so altered course and steamed towards her. At
first her signal was taken in as " no doctor available," and our three
medical ofticers were gently excited on the poop, wondering which
of them would get a job, but on coming nearer the signal proved
to be "exchange longitudes." We exchanged longitudes and
returned to our course. At noon to-day we were just 1,800 miles
from Barbados. After dinner the captain exhibited his electrics
in the after-cabin; some pretty jets and twirls of pink and green
light inside glass tubes.

The next day was very muggy, and we were rolling about, as the
swell and what little wind there was were coming up from opposite
quarters. We, however, still keep pounding along 5*8 knots,
passing, as usual, eight or ten sail. The whole of this part of the
sea is evidently now a regular high road, and very diff'erent from
when Columbus crossed it. Sunday (the 14th) was just the
same ; if anything, a trifle more motion on the ship, but having
a grass hammock rigged up, we were able to turn in and disregard
it. At 2 P.M. we made plain sail on the starboard tack, and at
4.30 P.M. stopped steaming, which, however, we had to commence
again an hour afterwards.

Dec. 15th. — In the forenoon midshipmen's examination still
going on, and in the afternoon we go to rifle drill and gymnastics.
The wind is now dead ahead, and a little stronger, so that we are
only making four knots against it, and we begin to wonder whether
our coals will hold out, should we have to steam against a strong
head wind the remainder of the distance to the West Indies,
1,470 miles. Finished reading Westward Ho ! for the second time.

Dec. l^ih. — The wind having at last got a touch of north in it
(north-west), at 10 A.M. stopped the engines, made plain sail, and at
11 A.M. hove to, and got up the screw; the breeze being pretty
steady took us along for the rest of the day between four and five
knots.

Bee. Vjth. — The breeze has freshened, though it shows no signs

VOL. I. E

50 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

of drawing round to the north-east ; still it is very pleasant with
the thermometer at 76° sailing along between five and six knots,
after all the thumping we have had with the screw. Shoals of
flying-fish to-day. Alas, towards evening the wind all died away,
and there was a flat calm, and we were flumping about on the swell,
with the ship's head all round the compass. This continued all
night until noon the next day, when we had only made sixty-
nine miles ; it lasted also the whole of that afternoon, and until
the noon of Friday, the 19th, when we rove screw purchase, got
the screw down, and commenced steaming at 2.30 P.M. We had
scarcely done so when the north-east trade at last began steadily
to blow, and we set starboard stunsails, and go gallantly along
under steam and sail six and seven knots, being now just over
1,000 miles distant from Barbados. Our average daily run for
the next three days to the 23rd was 170 miles, on the afternoon
of which day lit fires under a third boiler, and increased to forty
revolutions, which, with the ''trade" blowing a steady six, carried
us along ten knots all that night and the whole of Wednesday,
the 24th, on which day we made a run of 256 miles, which
brought us to a distance of 217 miles from Barbados.

Christmas Day. — Up on deck at 4 A.M., and had first sight of the
Southern Cross ; it was low down in the horizon, and appeared more
to resemble a lily bent to the left than a cross. At 8.15 A.M. sighted
Barbados : a long, low, grey-looking shore, with a tall lighthouse
on the southern end towards us. The island is in the shape of a
leg of mutton, twenty-one miles long, and fourteen broad, tapering
down to three, its circumference about fifty-five ; its area is about
the same as that of the Isle of Wight. At 9 A.M. shortened and
furled sails, and then had a short Christmas Day service on the
main deck, and at 11.15 A.M. stopped the engines, and came to in
twenty fathoms in Carlisle Bay, ofi" Bridgetown. H.M.S. Tourmaline,
Captain R. P. Dennistoun, is lying here, further in towards the
shore, glistening, clean, fresh-painted, and with her sun awnings
spread fore and aft, looking cool and enviable from our hot decks,
which at present are very dirty, with traces of steaming. Further
away, a mile or so to the north, lie all the merchant shipping, a
goodly array of coasters and other steamers, off Bridgetown.
Swarms of shore-boats, with grinning, laughing, negro washer-
women, at once surrounded us. Jane Ann Smith was the only
one (she stands over six feet) that sat in solemn dignity in the
stern sheets of her boat, the ^wima donna of the occasion, having

1879. AT BARBADOS. 51

already washed for Prince Alfred on more than one occasion, and
fully intending to do so for other princes yet. The other negresses
gesticulated, each from her own boat, and saluted the officers
on the poop with many endearing terms, claiming also former
acquaintance with the elder and sedate, and of all things in the
world flourishing cotton Manchester-made pocket-handkerchiefs
flag fashion, with likenesses of us both woven in colours on them,
and one or two triumphantly produced framed photographs of us
taken at Dartmouth, which they waved about, bobbing and kissing
their hands, all one huge grin of delight. Are these gaily- decked
ebony forms merely thus showing the simple silliness of good-
natured animals, or the joy-of the fluttering bird about to swoop
upon what it regards as its easy prey ? or is it the fawning of a
lower race before what even yet it has not ceased to feel as its
superior ? or a mixture of all three ? Be it as it may, we can't help
laughing at and with them the first time we set eyes on such a
laughter- compelling exhibition. As soon as the ship is moored
they come on board with their certificates of former performances,
and seem for the first hour after anchoring to be swarming all over
the half deck.

In the afternoon called on the Governor, Major G. Strahan, R.A.
He was aide-de-camp to Sir Henry Storks when the Prince of
Wales was in Corfu. Three years ago he happened to dine at
Abergeldie, the night of the day that Eddy first went out deer-
stalking, and remembered the cuHe afterwards under the porch.
We also called on General -Gamble, C.B., commanding the forces, at
Queen's House, >^here we went round the well- arranged garden, in
which are all sorts of curious shrubs and plants, and in a great tank
in a shady dell three old turtles of great antiquity, one of whom
recognises his keeper, and performs tricks for his food. All the
officers of the ship had their Christmas dinner under the poop,
when some of the more elderly officers of the civil branch/ astonished
their juniors by the se.ntimental and old-fashioned bravura ditties
with which they favoured the company.

Bee. 2Qih, — Began coaling ship from lighters, which however
came off but slowly from the shore ; one carrying ten tons of coal
swamped and sank alongside. We landed in the afternoon at the
Carenage and went up to Government House and had a game of
lawn-tennis with other midshipmen, and also at billiards in the cool
room detached from the house and opening on all sides into the
garden. The Governor showed us all over this and the grass walks

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1879.

under the palms ; we saw among other things the common accom-
paniment of a West Indian kitchen door, the magic Papaw tree,
whose leaves rubbed on the toughest meat make it tender on th&
spot, and whose fruit makes the best of sauce or pickle to be
eaten therewith ; the stems are some fifteen feet high, with a flat
crown of mallow-like leaves. We afterwards dined with him
quietly ; no one was there except the colonial secretary (Honourable
W. F. Hely-Hutchinson), the attorney-general (Mr. Fleming), and
Mr. Hull, the private secretary. Driving down to the landing-place
after dinner, through the warm still air of the tropic night, we
heard for the first time the perpetual whistling of the frogs, which
after dark kept up a regular chorus from every garden and field all
over the place.

AT BARBADOS

Hate.

Wind.

Tempekaiube.

Sea.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noou.

6 I'.M.

Doc.
26

N.E. 7-4

KE. 3 1

28S.

N.E. 3 1

N.E. 3-4

N.E. 1

Calm

Jan.

N.E. 1-2

N.E. 2-6

S.E. 1-4

4S.

N.E. 1-3

Dec. 27th. — Still coaling, but finished at 2.30 p.m., having received
356 tons, and then began at last to w^ash down and get the ship a
little bit tidy. At 4 P.M. we landed and went up to Queen's
House for a ride with the General, which was very jolly in the cool
of the evening. We rode all along the beach to the lighthouse
point ; the water close under the shore was of clear emerald green
with a white sandy bottom, and the land crabs were scuttling about
and still crawling there just as they did when Amyas Leigh walked
and sat upon this same beach in 1583, what time he "came to
Barbados and found no man therein " ( Westvjard Ho ! chap. xvii.).
And the "bearded" fig trees too, large spreading trees with
bold evergreen foliage, were still there, with their fibrous twisted

1879. BARBADOS. 53

roots hanging from the branches like beards ; from which the
island got its name from the Portuguese, who saw them first in
1518. The first recorded visit of Englishmen was in 1605, when
the crew of the Olive Blossom landed, put up a cross and cut
thereon, " James, King of England, and of this Island." From that
day to this it has never ceased to belong to Great Britain, and is
almost the only one of the West Indian islands that has never
changed hands. It lies most to windward of the trades {i.e. up to
north-east) of any of the Antilles, being seventy-eight miles east
of St. Vincent. It remained thickly wooded and uninhabited till
1624 ; four years later the first English colonists landed ; but they
knew no use for the sugar-cane, till in 1640 a Dutchman from
Brazil taught them the secret of boiling the juice. In a few years
their prosperity was prodigious. The whole of the western coasts
of the island were soon covered with plantations, and in twenty
years 50,000 English settled there. The civil wars in England
increased the number of the planters, who were chiefly men of
wealth. The growth of Barbados went on fast from 1640 to 1650.
In 1645 many Royalist refugees emigrated hither, and Charles II.
was proclaimed king as soon as the news of Charles I.'s execution
came out. They called the island " Little England," and in the
planters of Barbados we certainly find the earliest type of the
true English colonist. The representatives of these families that
have been located in the island for over 200 years are there still,
and as much attached to the soil as the representatives of county
families at home, and in many cases they are the descendants,
through junior branches, of some of the best families in England,
and their estates are still called after the ancestral domain.

Barbados was, however, reduced to submission by the great Pro-
tector, who had a strong colonial policy ; he forced the island to give
up free trade with the Dutch and Portuguese, and by his Act of
Navigation to trade with none but the mother country. Cromwell
also did a great deal for the West Indies by sending many of his
Irish and Scotch prisoners out as slaves. Seven thousand Scotch,
for example, were sold to the West Indian planters after the battle
of Worcester (the same thing was done in 1716 after the rebellion
of the Pretender). In 1657 Barbados was the most populous,
rich, and industrious spot on the earth. Fourteen thousand pounds
was reckoned then the smallest capital with which a planter could
settle upon an estate of 500 acres; but this sum easily yielded 50
per cent, every year. The West Indian plantations were to England

54 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

in the time of Charles ll., and until after the Revolution, very
much what the cotton and iron manufactures are in our own times.
It was calculated that 250,000 English were engaged in the
plantation trade, and as every one of these, including ttre sailors
employed on the trade thither, furnished employment for four pairs
of hands at home, over 1,000,000 of people, or one-seventh of the
entire population of England at that time, must have been depen-
dent upon it. What wonder that in 1663 a duty of 4 J per cent,
upon the produce of the island was levied by the English Parliament,
to defray the expenses of its government, and as a tribute or
contribution to the Imperial exchequer in England ? England thus
drew annually considerable sums from the country. William of
Orange looked upon this income as his personal property, and used
it for pensions and other political objects in England, This tax to
the home government was not removed till 1838. It prevailed in
all the West Indian islands, and many years in succession the con-
tribution thus paid to the English exchequer from the West Indies
amounted to more than a million and a half sterling. The colonies
paid then, at any rate ! and they possessed at the same time free
and independent governments of their own.

The present exports of Barbados are valued at over 1,000,000/.
per annum ; and the imports at about the same. Of the sugar
exported about an equal quantity goes to the United States as to
the United Kingdom ; but of the molasses, twelve times as much
to the States as to the Kingdom, and to Canada twenty-six times as
much. There has been a local parliament here since 1645, with an
Upper and a Lower House. The Upper consists of eight members
nominated by the Crown. The Lower House consists of twenty-four
members in all, elected, two from Bridgetown, and two from each
of the eleven parishes. The elections are annual ; the electors are
less than one in a hundred of the inhabitants ; their qualification
is to be ratepayers of 21. per annum. There is no public debt.

Riding a little way inland, all the trees seemed to be in flower ;
scarlet, bright yellow, blue and copper, with their leaves the brightest
green. We dined at Government House again and met there the
Bishop, the General, Sir J. Sealy, Judge Packer, Colonel Eccles (of
the 4th Regiment), Colonel Hill, and Colonel Clements (Inspector
of Police), in addition to those who were there last night, and
Lieutenant Fawkes, R.E., the General's A.D.C.

Dec. 2Sth. — Roman Catholics went to early mass on shore, and we
had our usual services on board morning and afternoon. There was

1879. BARBADOS. 55

a funeral from the Tourmaline in the afternoon. We do not find
the tropics nearly so warm as we expected, the thermometer on board
is never much over 80°, and since we have been lying here there
has been a gentle north-east " trade '• continually blowing, which
helps to keep the air delightfully cool ; we hear it is so for eight
out of the twelve months of the year.

Dec. 29th. — Arrived the English mail steamers Nile and Tiber, the
former outward, and the latter homeward bound. Heard from home,
and wrote for next day's mail. At 4 P.M. arrived H.M.S. Tamar,
Captain W. H. Liddell, going from Jamaica to the west coast of
Africa with the First West Indian Regiment. The incoming mail
brought news of the promotion of two of our messmates ; and the
order for their passage to England by the mail leaving to-morrow.
There was a cricket match in the afternoon between our eleven
and that of the Tourmaline and garrison combined, which we won
by four- wickets. It was played on the Savannah, which is a large
flat extent of rough grass, of about a hundred acres, to south-east of
town ; round the edgeYuns the fashionable carriage drive, bordered
on each side by trees, and at a little distance back from the road
the barrack buildings of St. Ann's garrison. In the evening there
was a ball at Government House. It seems odd, but we suppose
it is natural, that in the same way as when out-of-doors in our
drives or walks by day we see no white face either in the streets or
country ; so to-night there was not one black face in all the rooms,
and we wondered where all the English came from. Black men
and women everywhere all day, white men and women only to be
seen at night. " Ortus est sol et congregati sunt et in cubilibus
suis collocabuntur. Exibit homo ad opus suum et ad operationem
suam usque ad vesperum." The whites are about one out of
every ten souls in the island ; the whole population of which
is 160,000, or more than that of Portsmouth . at home. It was
deliciously cool between the dances out in the broad verandahs,
looking out across the garden into the calm, still, tropic darkness,
where the great palms were standing up against " the purple night
hung with keen stars," while the noise of the crickets and whistling
frogs pulsated plaintively from a distance.

Dec. SOth. — The mail steamers Nile and Tiber sailed, one for
England, in which sub-lieutenants Rolfe and Ingram took passage
home on pronqotion to lieutenants, and the other to go down the
islands. The Moselle and Eider arrived. We played a return
match with the Tourmalines and garrison, and won again. Mr.

56 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1870.

Childers dined at Government House with us, and took the news
home to England, for the comfort of all concerned, that our noses
were not tatooed. Colonel Eccles and the officers of the 4th
Regiment gave a dinner to Captain Lord Charles Scott and
the officers of H.M.S. Bacchante. The band of the regiment,
amongst other pieces, played a valse composed by the colonel
called " King's Own Royals," which the captain so much admired
that he asked for a copy, and it henceforth became one of the
favourite tunes of the Bacchantes band. They also performed one
or two eflfective pieces consisting of alternate passages, instrumental
and vocal.

Dec. Slst. — We left the ship at 11 a.m., with the captain, three
ward-room and five gun-room shipmates, to go for a picnic given by
General Gamble at Codrington College on the other side of the
island. On landing at the Carenage Colonel Hill took charge of
the party. We filled three carriages, and drove first to St. John's ; on
either side of the road, as thick as they could be packed, were the
negro huts of wood, each looking as flimsy as if built of cards.
They are never more than one storey in height, and are usually
supported on rows of rough stones, which raise the floor a few
inches from the surface of the ground. In size they are perhaps
twenty feet by ten. Their roofs are shingle, of wood imported
from Canada or the United States; they have no glass in the
windows, which are merely square apertures, closed either by
jalousies, or trapdoor-like shutters with hinges at the top, which,
when propped open, form effectual sunshades. Often through
the open door you can see a huge four-poster, which takes up
nearly all the interior of the family resting-place. Each hut stands
in its little garden, with bananas and maize, and swarms of black
children rolling over each other in the sun, and in the white narrow
road are old negro men and old negro women everywhere laughing,
and apparently happy, well-to-do, and sleek. These huts stretch for
a couple of miles outside the town (which contains in all about
20,000 inhabitants, or about an eighth of all in the island), and as
soon as we are clear of them come the fields of sugar-cane. Looking
back from the top of a slight hill over these towards Bridgetown
with its towers and shipping in the distance, you could for a
moment imagine you were in England, and that the green expanse
of cane was that of corn not yet ripe. But only for a moment,
for the eye catches here and there groups of tall cocoa-nut trees,
and the chimneys of the sugar mills (of which there are said to be

1879. BARBADOS. ST. JOHN'S. 57

500 in the island) and the thick whitish green stumps of the cane,
and these quickly undeceive you. We got our first taste of the
sugar-cane here, in the first English colony where sugar-cane was
planted. You cut a piece a few inches long with a knife and tear
the fibrous bark off with the teeth ; on chewing, you get, of course,
the sweet taste of the juice, but there is too much fibre in the
mouth at the same time, so that the sense of biting wood or straw
predominates. We hear that at present land fetches from 80/. to
100/. an acre here, and with good management will return ten or
twelve per cent.; guano has to be largely used to stimulate the cane.
On arriving at St. John's church (nine miles out), which, with its
square tower, its nave and short chancel, is exactly like an English
village church, approached as it is also by a grove of thick shaded
trees from the roadside, we got out and walked round the church-
yard. It stands at the edge of the eastern cliff looking right out
towards home, 4,000 miles away, for between us and all which
England contains lies nothing but that blue stretch of waters over
which comes the trade wind full in our faces ; lookino^ down from
the top of these brown cliffs we see the surf breaking on the line
of coral reefs which extend along the whole of this eastern side of
the island at a short distance from the shore. They are broken by
one bay only, with its river, at the mouth of which there is no
white line ; the still green water inside the reef contrasts strongly
with the dark blue of the sea beyond. Barbados is nearly
encircled by coral reefs, which in some parts extend seaward
nearly three miles. Six-sevenths of its whole area is formed of this
coraline rock and limestone. In fact the island is a succession of
limestone and coral terraces representing so many different periods
of upheaval from the sea. The iron sandstone cliff, on the edge
of which we stand, does not descend perpendicularly into the sea,
but is broken away in a manner that reminds us of the undercliff
in the Isle of Wight, with its precipitous rocks and a number of
boulders toppled over and covered with shrubs and grass. In
this churchyard we saw humming-birds for the first time — little
splashes of light darting here and there in the sun. We went into
the church, and there saw two monuments in white marble, by
Flaxman, and old tombs of 1666 and 1789, telling of old days and
of an old regime long passed away. Mr. Sealy (son of Sir John
Sealy), the incumbent, came to us from the garden of the rectory,
which adjoins the churchyard, and gave us our first taste of fresh
cocoa-nut juice. He and two giant negroes (the " Bims," or

58 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1879.

Barbadians, are of heavier build, broader in the face and higher in
the forehead than the negroes of the other islands) sliced with long
carving knives the green rind from the just-gathered nuts, which
they held between their knees ; then, after punching a hole through
the white and not yet hardened shell, handed us the nuts, so that
we might tilt at once, either into our mouths or into hand-glasses,
the sweet, cool, light-coloured liquid, than which few drinks are
more refreshing. There are eleven rectors and twenty-eight curates,
each paid by the colony, as are also the Wesleyan, Moravian and
Roman Catholic pastors. There are eleven parishes in the island,
140,000 out of 160,000 of the inhabitants belong to the Church
of England, about 12,000 are Wesleyans, 4,000 Moravians, and only
500 Roman Catholics.

From St. John's we drove down through the slopes of the under-
cliff to Codrington College, passing many still more flimsy and
rickety negro-huts. On our arriving at the entrance of the long
avenue of cocoa-nub palms which leads up to the college, there was
an enthusiastic gathering of negro women, men, and children, to
see " Queen Victoria's piccaninnies." They clustered round the
first carriage that arrived, which was a wagonnette containing
mids whom they took for us, and frantically embraced every part
they could lay their hands on — the steps, door, splash-board,
kissing these and even the wheels, and overwhelming the occupants
with blessings and salutations of joy and delight. When we came
a little after, the first burst of emotion had been let off, but still
enough remained to give us a hearty welcome. The stalwart
Barbadian negro is better satisfied with himself and more indepen-
dent than any other. He may have belonged originally, in Africa,
to some higher race, for there are as great differences of race
among negroes as among European nations. The true Barbadian
born looks down on all other negroes as beings of an inferior grade.
They are almost the only negroes who will work. The island is
so thickly populated that if they did not they would starve. In
consequence labour is cheap, and the whole island looks like a well-
kept garden. Many Bims migrate to other islands as carpenters,
smiths, &c. We took two Barbadian negro carpenters on board the
Bacchante with us during the whole of our cruise in the West
Indies. They were employed on inlaying the combing of the after-
hatchway on the quarter-deck with various coloured woods ; they
did it very well and worked steadily, giving no trouble whatsoever.
They returned to Barbados from Jamaica.

1879-80. BARBADOS. CODRINGTON COLLEGE. 59

Codrington College is a long, white stone building, well and
substantially constructed. Principal Webb was not there, as it
happened to be vacation time, but the head tutor and some of the
students in cap and gown were on the grass plat in front, and went
with us into the chapel — a cool, lofty, panelled hall, where the
organ was played by one of them. We then went into the garden
at the back of the college, and sat looking out for a while over the
sea through various forms of tropic vegetation, well laid out, and
with many welcome shady corners, refreshed with breezes from the
Atlantic. Here we waited till the lunch, which we had brought
with us, was ready in the college hall. This over we went into the
library, where there is a fine collection of old books, and amongst
others some of the college prizes won at Cambridge by Bishop
Rawle of Trinidad. There is also a fine bust of General Christopher
Codrington, the founder, who in 1712 bequeathed two estates in
the island of over 700 acres to the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel to establish a College here for the study of physics,
surgery, and divinity. There are several scholarships of over 30/.
a year, and three of the same value paid by the colony for young
men born in the island who cannot afford the expense of going to
Oxford or Cambridge.

We planted two or three palm-trees, in memory of our visit, along-
side the piece of water in front, and after chatting a bit with the
students we drove back round the south end of the island to
Bridgetown, where it was dusk when we arrived, and so off to the
ship, where we found that all the port watch, who had been away
on forty-eight hours general leave, had returned on board, sober
and without a single case of leave-breaking, and the starboard
watch were just going over the side for their general leave. The
bachelor's ball was given this evening, to which some of the officers
went to dance the old year out and the new year in.

Jan. \st, 1880.— Sailed H.M.S. Tamar, and at 2.15 p.m. H.M.S.
Atalanta made her number off the lighthouse on Need ham Point,
and an hour later beat up to the roads and anchored close to us.
Crossing from Teneriffe she has had just the same weather and
total absence of north-east trades that we experienced. There was
a cricket match on the Savannah between our eleven and the
Barbados Club, " The Wanderers." They played very well, and
we were thoroughly beaten. At dawn this morning Mr. Sims, the
naval schoolmaster of the Bacchante, died in hospital, whither he
had been conveyed from the ship early yesterday morning. He

60 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

had been for some time suffering from rheumatism in his limbs,
which, however, entirely ceased the day before his death, when
it seems to have gone to his heart. He was twenty-three years
of age, and will be much missed in the ship, both as regards his
regular work with the boys (he always played the harmonium in
Church on Sunday), and also on account of the voluntary services
of help which he rendered to different members of the ship's com-
pany. He was buried to-day at 5.30 P.M. in the military cemetery
by the edge of the sea ; and George, happening to have that watch,
marched as the midshipman in charge of the funeral party of
bluejackets and marines under the first lieutenant. In the
evening the Governor, Mr. Hely-Hutchinson and Mr. Hull, dined
on board, together with the Bishop and Captain Dennistoun of the
Tourmaline and Captain Stirling of the Atalanta.

The Atalanta and Euo^ydice were not sister ships, though nearly
of the same size ; the Atalanta being of 958 and the Eurydice of
021 tons displacement. The Atalanta was built at Pembroke in
1844, and after service as a man-of-war was used as a water-police
hulk at Portsmouth harbour till 1877, when the police went into
barracks. After the foundering of the Eurydice she was converted
at Pembroke into a training ship, and to increase her stability her
masts and some of her spars were shortened. After her first cruise
in the West Indies her weight of armament was reduced, additional
ballast being given in compensation. On the 7th November, 1879,
the Atalanta with 300 young seamen on board sailed from
Portsmouth for the West Indies on her third cruise of instruction,
with orders to return home about April 4.

Jan. 2nd. — Left the ship at 10 A.M. with the captain and doctor,
and six messmates from gan-room — Royds, Peel, Currey, Christian,
John and Sammy — for the pier in Bridgetown harbour, to which we
went in the steam pinnace and galley through the merchant shipping
anchorage. The piers on both sides of the harbour, which is like
an embanked river, were thronged with negroes, who swarmed still
more thickly round the landing-steps at the further end. This
was the first opportunity they had had en masse of seeing the
Queen's piccaninnies, and consequently they expressed their feelings
in a very demonstrative manner ; one old lady, name unknown,
threw a spade guinea of George the Third's, wrapt up in paper and
inscribed " a Souvenir of Barbados," into the carriage as we drove
through the town (in which the extreme irregularity of the build-
ings, and the absence of all shop windows are very striking) up to

1880. BARBADOS. FARLEY HILL. Gl

Government House, which George has worn on his watch-chain ever
since. In the square by the landing-place stands a bronze statue
of Lord Nelson, who paid the island a Hying visit in 1805, when he
was on search for the French, whom he caught up in October of
that year and beat at Trafalgar. This was the last spot of British
territory he trod upon in life.

The Governor and Mr. Fleming joined us, and we started to drive
to Farley Hill at the northern end of the island. The road led for
the first ten miles along the western shore to Speight's Town, where
more black people turned out enthusiastically ; they had erected
two or three arches of greenery and bright flowers across the street,
and various brilliant handkerchiefs and streamers were fluttering
from several of the one-storied huts, which here were certainly
better constructed than some we had seen at Bridgetown. In
fact several of the houses are built of brick or stone, and there
are several stores. Close to the town there are two jetties
stretching out into the sea, and some few schooners w^ere
anchored there waiting to load with sugar. We drove through
the crowd up the hill to the police station, inside the courtyard
of which we changed horses, and after visiting some poor blacks
in the hospital of the almshouse close by, the greater number
of whom were suffering from a sort of elephantiasis in the feet,
we drove on to Sir Graham Briggs's. He was away in England,
but we went over the fine house and garden and up to thesummer-
liouse at the top of the hill, from whence there is a wide outlook
over Scotland (as all this north part of the island is called). We
had lunch, which had been sent on by the Governor, in the long
dining-room, and then adjourned to the billiard room and library
up stairs, as unfortunately it had become a wet afternoon. We
drove back the same way we had come. At one place on the right-
hand side of the road the Manchineel shrubs with their dark green
leaves were pointed out to us ; their milky juice, if merely dropped
on the skin, raises blisters or worse. In the evening there was a
ball given by the chief gentry of the island at Hastings Hotel to
Captain Lord Charles Scott and the officers of the Bacchante. The
rooms, which are all on the ground floor, were very prettily decorated,
and opened all into each other. As the whole was surrounded by
a very broad verandah, which made a spacious and cool border for
the *' wall-flowers," who from where they sat could see what was
going on inside, there was ample space for dancing ; and everybody
seemed thoroughly to enjoy the hospitality extended to them.

62 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Jan. Srd. — At 1 P.M. (after making up our logs and watch bills,
i.e. lists of the bluejackets, their ratings, djuties, and stations
in each part of the ship, in which about a dozen changes
are of necessit}'- made every week), we left the ship in the steam
pinnace and landed at the adjutant-general's wharf, just opposite
the anchorage, and drove up to Bishop's Court, where we lunched
with the Bishop, his mother, Mrs. Mitchinson, and her sister. A
young son of the black bishop of Haiti, and other youths, were
staying in the house, which is prettily situated on the top of a hill
with sloping gardens and copse all round. He showed us his pets —
monkey, cat, and dog, all happy together, and alsa some beautiful
specimens of foraminifera, under a large microscope, and we then
started with him in the carriage for Cole's Cave, six miles away
in the centre of the island. It was a very warm afternoon,
and we were obliged to have the hood up, and all fell off into
a nap on the road. Arrived there we clambered down a steep gully
profusely overgrown with green things of every shape, size, and sort
— silk-cotton trees, ferns, palms, and orchids — by the help of two
or three stalwart negroes, to the opening of the cave. Once inside
we all carried candles ; the cave is very long, and runs through the
limestone as a fissure, it is said, for miles ; and on the stream of water
which flows northwards at the bottom, and by the side of which we
walked, it is said that some ducks were once placed, which afterwards
made their way out to the eastern coast of the island. The whole
roof is one mass of stalactites ; many of these have been broken off
by negroes, who descend to get water from the stream when the
water supply outside above runs low. In the same way the province
of Yucatan in Central America is a vast table of coral rock, beneath
which flow large streams in water caves. The ancient cities were
always built near these caves, and the Indians centuries ago marked
the course of these subterranean streams by heaps of stones.
Some contain fish said to be blind, like those in the mammoth
cave of Kentucky. With many of them are connected all kinds of
Indian legends or tradition. In fact you always find these caves
and streams in the limestone or coral formation. There is no
running stream above ground in Barbados, but there is plenty of
rain which percolates through to feed these underground springs.
We had brought some magnesium wire with us, of which we
from time to time lighted strips. The largest and most perfect
stalactites were up one branch to the left called the " dry cave,"
although there is as much mud and damp up there as elsewhere.

1880. BAEBADOS. 63

From these paths of darkness that lead below we ascended by
the help of the Bishop into the realms of light, and on coming
out of the cave went a short distance along the road to a place
called Sturges, from whence there was a fine view of all the north
part of the island ; on the left is the flat summit of Mount Hillaby
(the highest elevation in the island, 1,147 feet above the sea), and
on the right Chimborazo, wooded, its rival as the highest point
in the island.

In the glen was growing a giant ceiba, or silk-cotton tree, with
its roots jutting out like walls or buttresses on all sides ; the negroes
hold such to be sacred, and believe them to be haunted by
"jumbies;" each of its boughs, seventy or eighty feet above the
ground, was as big as an average English tree.

Drove back to town in time to catch the six o'clock officers' boat
off to the Bacchante. We envied the ToiirinaMnes, whom we saw
bathing over the side of their ship. This they do every morning
and afternoon, plunging and diving apparently regardless of the
sharks, of which there are many about, but they are easily kept at a
distance when many men are splashing in the water together.
The dead body of a horse floating out to sea was made fast astern
of the Bacchante as a bait for these gentlemen, and though the
stench was rather strong all that day and night, it attracted one or
two large sharks who were duly shot by the commander from off
the poop. At present there is no decent Sailors' .Home or Club
here, which is a great drawback, as the houses where the men
sleep Avhen ashore on leave are filthily dirty and the grog is
something too shocking. Sir Leopold McClintock and General
Gamble have lately started a club, to be managed by a committee
of petty and non-commissioned officers for the two services, to
which the Prince of Wales sent (after our return to England) a
donation in memory of the Bacchante s cruise to the West Indies.
It was through sleeping ashore in close contact with some of the
crew of a coasting brig that had come in from one of the infected
islands, that two or three of the Atalanta's hands took the yellow
fever, on account of which Captain Stirling afterwards ran north
into cooler latitudes when he left here,-and passed St. Kitts without
communicating, for Bermuda.

[The total area of all the West Indian Islands whatsoever, and to
whomsoever belonging, is about equal to that of Great Britain ;
their total population is over 4,000,000, or about equal to that of
London, and between that of Ireland and that of Scotland. The

64 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

largest extent of this area is made up by the two great islands of
Cuba and Puerto Rico ; these, which are about equal in area to
England, belong to Spain. Haiti, about equal in area to Scotland, is
governed by two negro republics. The area of the British West
Indies is about equal to that of Wales. The greatest extent, then,
of the West Indies belongs to Spain, but the larger number of the
islands to England. Their united population, also, is about equal to
that of the Principality — one million and a half Of these, however,
by far the larger number are blacks. In Jamaica the proportion
is one white man to every thirty-eight negroes. On a very liberal
allowance, then, the whole white population resident in the British
West Indies is not equal in number to that of Cardiff. This tropical
Wales however — the British West Indies proper — consists now of
six independent governorships, of six separate provinces or colonies.
Three of these are three groups of islands ; three of them are
three larger islands, each a self-contained government in itself
These last are Barbados on the east, Trinidad on the south, and
Jamaica on the west. The three groups of smaller islands, each
group an independent province or colony, are : the Leeward Islands,
or northern half of the Antilles — Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat,
St. Kitts, and Nevis ; the Windward, or southern half of the Antilles
— Grenada, Tobago, St. Vincent and St. Lucia; and the Bahamas,
the most northerly group of all, off the coast of Florida.

With these six colonies (the British West Indies proper) are
sometimes associated in popular estimation the two other outlying
colonies : Bermuda, 1,000 miles away in the North Atlantic ; and
British Guiana, 300 miles away on the north coast of South America.

At the first glance the administrative system seems far too com-
plicated for their present condition, and too costly for the restricted
resources of the West Indian communities. A stranger at once
asks whether united action between the islands would not enable
economy to be combined with efficiency ? Each island, no doubt,
has a history and traditions of its own, which it rightly treasures
with jealous pride. From the days of Cromwell to those of Nelson
they have been the battle-ground of England in her contests with
the various European powers for colonial empire and the com-
merce of the seas. Every headland and every bay has its story of
Abercromby and Rodney, so that each little island is prouder than
the next. But this is no real reason why every little colony should
treasure and maintain its separate executive and legislative body ;
" the paraphernalia of a kingdom with the population of a small

1880. BARBADOS. 65

English town." One consequence is that the officials are wretchedly
paid, being so numerous ; and each confined to his own island
has no chance of promotion. Moreover, the smaller islands and
communities, like the small republics of Greece, have an undue
conception of their own importance, the same restlessness of spirit,
and the same irritability of temper which have ever been the
characteristic curse of all little commonwealths. Each also has
its own customs and tariff, to the utter confusion of trade. In
Barbados and British Guiana, no export duties at all are levied,
and these colonies are conspicuous for industrial success. In the
other islands the import and export dues vary indefinitely. The
British West Indies want knitting up together.]

Jem. 4^7i.^Roman Catholics ashore to early mass. For our
morning service the Bishop of Barbados came off and preached a
compact and rousing little sermon on St Paul's " I keep under my
body and bring it into subjection." He spoke in a most pugnacious
way of '* hitting under the eye " and " bullying " the flesh, by means
of self-restraint, temperance and self-deaial. The men were very
attentive as he stood up and spoke to them on the main deck for
twenty minutes without note or book. After which he at once went
off for another morning service at his own cathedral ashore. At
the afternoon service on board commemoration was made of the
naval schoolmaster, Mr. Sims. The ship's company raised a good
subscription on the lower deck for a monument to be erected to
his memory, which Mr. Blunn, chaplain of the Tourmaline, has
kindly consented to see carried out after we leave, and to send them
photographs of the same, when it has been placed in the cemetery.

Jan. hth. — The Governor, the Colonial Secretary, and the
Attorney-General came off to bid good-bye, as also did Captain
Stirling and Mr. Nimmo, chaplain of the Atalanta, and Lieutenants
Charrington and Fisher of the same ship. We stowed away our
pots of preserved ginger and guava jelly, cassava biscuit and dried
flying-fishes' wings (the last to be used for book-markers), and
other Barbadian curios. Got the screw up before dinner and at
S P.M. weighed casting to port and shaped course £Outh-west-half-
south. There was a fair breeze from the north-east, so that in the
evening we were able to set stunsails.

Jan. &h. — At 8 A.M. we sighted Tobago on the port bow and at
1 P.M. Trinidad. We have been sailing pleasantly along, making
over six knots the last twenty-four hours, and thus cover 130 miles
at noon to-day, which leaves fifty-nine. If we had now steamed

VOL. I. F

CRUESE^OF n.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

wc could have got into Port of Spain the same evening, but wo
shall spend another cool night at sea outside the gulf.

BARBADOS TO TRINIDAD.

Datk.

Fhom Prevcous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Sail.

130
56

Steam.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Jan.
5

S. 42 W.

35
9

N.E. 2 -6 -3

N.E. 4

N.E. 2.4

N.
11-29

W.
61-5

7°9
79
78

7°9
79
79

7°7
79
79

76
79
80

186

tal distance

230 mil

^8.

. At 6 P.M. rove screw purchase and down screw and then tried to
tack, but missed stays and so wore ship. The operation was
repeated several times during the night as we stood on and off
from the land.

Trinidad, next to Jamaica, is the largest of the West Indian
islands ; it is 48 miles long and 65 broad ; its area is about the
same as that of Lancashire. It is really an outlying part of South

1880. BAEBADOS TO TRIMDAD. 67

America rather than one of the Antilles. Its geographical
position is one of great importance both commercially and
politically. Its proximity to the delta of the Orinoco, that
vast artery that leads to the very heart of the South American
republics, entitles it to become the entrepot of much of their
commerce. It was sighted by Columbus in his third voyage to
the New World, on 31st July, 1496, when, in accordance with his
vow to call the first land which he might see by the name of the
Holy Trinity, he christened it La Trinidad. But the Spaniards
never made much of the island till 1783.

Jan. 1th. — At 8 A.M. the next morninsf commenced steaminof,
and at 9.30 A.M. shortened and furled sails. We entered the
Gulf of Paria, through that one of the Dragons' mouths called
the Boca de Monos. The early morning had been showery, but it
cleared up as we passed into the passage, so that we were able
thoroughly to enjoy its beauties. The hills from their very
summits down to the water's edge on either side are green; at
first you imagine from a little distance they are covered with grass,
but this resolves itself on your coming closer into a jagged and
feathered mass of gigantic trees'; those on the sky-line stand out
clear and distinct, and you begin to appreciate their size by con-
sidering those that hang over the rocks and shores beneath. To
these in some places we approach within a cable's length first on
one hand and then on the other. Here and there the woods are
broken into by clearings on which stand a hut or two and gardens
of bananas and other fruits : islands and bays alternate, and small
groups of fishermen's huts with patches of white sandy beach in
front, on which their nets are spread to dry and their canoes hauled
up. In one bay on the port side just before entering the gulf was
the stranded wreck of a large coolie ship, which had been taken
ashore here by the current, which sets very strong through the
passage, so that it is very difficult and almost impossible to make
the Monos Channel under sail. The difference between the colour
of the bottle-green water in the bay and that of the sea outside is
great : the waters in the bay contain the muddy discharge of the
waters of the Orinoco, " waters from the peaks of the Andes 1,500
miles away," which flow into the gulf through its southern entrance.
Away on the starboard hand right across on the western shore of
the bay we get our first glimpse of the Spanish Main, where the
mountains of Venezuela are towering above the clouds. We alter
course to the eastward, and come to our anchorage three miles from

F 2

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

the shore at 2 p.m. off Port of Spain, the buildiDgs of which we
can just see in the distance through the masts and rigging of a
whole line of coasters and merchant ships which are lying further
in between us and them. There is not a breath of air stirring here :
we are shut in completely from the trade wind which rushes along
half a mile above our heads.

AT TRINIDAD.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon

6 P.M. 1

Jan.

lis.

18S.

Calm

Variable 1*2

Variable 1-2

Variable 1'2

Variable 1

Variable 1-2

Variable 1

Variable 3-1

Variable 1-2

S.E. 1-2

E. 3-1

Calm

N. 1-4-1

8\
80
80
80
81
81
81
81
80
81
81
81
81
81

8°1
80
80
80
81
80
80
80
80
81
81
81
31
80

8°0
80
80
78
79
82
78
81
79
76
80
78
80
78

78
81
79

79
79
80

78
80
77
78
80
77
80
80

On the right as the sun goes down we see the long straight lines
of heavy mist rising from the swamps at the mouth of the Caroni
river, while away on the left rise the wood-covered hills with here
and there bright patches of flowers, amongst others a great yellow-
blossomed poui-tree. The Governor s aide-de-camp came off, and
Captain Lord Charles Scott went ashore to call on Sir Henry
Irving. That evening a large party of sixteen officers from the
ship (eight of them from gun-room) dined at Government House,
and then went to a ball given by Mr. Leon Agostini, a non-
official member of the council. Here the floral decorations were
the prettiest we have ever seen. Coloured lamps were festooned
up both sides of the long avenue that leads to the open space
immediately in front of ** Coblentz." The lawn with its flower-
beds was thrown into strong relief, for round the outside edge
were standing a row of brown and black men holding lights
which burnt now red, now blue, now yellow. The outlines of the
one storied house itself were ablaze with rows of white lamps, which

1880. TKINIDAD— PORT OF SPAIN. 69

ran round every window and doorway. The broad marble-paved
verandahs which extended all round the exterior were left unlighted,
a cool retreat from the ball-room inside, where those who sat or
walked could look out on the coloured flower-beds, down to which,
if they felt inclined, they could wander on the dry gravel walk. In
the garden at the back of the house Mr. Agostini had erected a
large supper-room in which all the guests, about 400, could be
seated at once. There were three long tables with one cross one ;
the interior was decorated with many flags and small arms arranged
in stars and other designs. The passage to the supper-room was
through the large glass conservatory which in its turn formed a
pleasing retreat. The whole place with its well-arranged com-
binations of subdued light and tropic foliage seemed to us more
like fairyland than anything else. Everything went off uncom-
monly well, and at sapper, as it was past midnight after the
health of the Queen had been drunk and that of the Prince and
Princess of Wales, every one wished Eddy many happy returns of
his birthday ; then off to the ship in the steam pinnace.

Jan. ^th. — To-day both of us were rated midshipmen ; we were at
the time the only two naval cadets in the gunroom. Not a breath
of wind, and though the thermometer shows only 80°, yet there is
a more oppressive feeling in the moisture-laden air than we have
ever known before. The hot black hull of the ship lying at anchor
retains the heat long after the sun has gone down. In the after-
noon Mr. Sendall (secretary to Local Government Board, Whitehall,
and who was Director of Education in Ceylon when the Duke of
Edinburgh visited that island), a guest of the Governor's, Mr. Wilson,
and Mr. Tanner (Director of Public Works), came off and arranged
about excursions in the island next week. After dinner the
" Snowdrop Minstrels " (the Bacchante s Christy Minstrels, com-
posed of blue jackets and marines) made their first appearance ;
White, Cooper, Emery, Nash and Golding, were the chief performers
on this occasion, the latter being the best hand as " Bones " and as
a step-dancer. So ended Eddy's birthday festivities.

Jan. dth. — General quarters as usual on Friday. In the afternoon
we landed in the officers' boat and went up with some other mids,
and had a good afternoon at lawn-tennis in the Government House
grounds, which are very pretty, and in which we saw the cottage
where Mr. Kingsley stayed, and then had a swim in the fresh
water bath-house close by. We walked down to the jetty and
came off to the ship by the six o'clock boat. The negroes here

70 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

seem to be quite different from those at Barbados, they cheered
very ^ye\\ and did not jump about so much. Several fat negresses
were sitting here and there with trays of abominable-looking
half-melted sweetmeats in the streets.

Jan. 10th. — Left the ship at 10 A.M. and went ashore in the steam
cutter, and were met on landing by Captain Holder, aide-de-camp,
and Captain Baker of the police force. The street from the land-
ing place is broad and straight ; we drove across the Marine Square
with its fountain in the centre, and palm-trees and wooden ware-
houses around with shady arcades, in front of which are lying bales
of goods and casks. At the corner stands the Club-house, and away
to the right rise the two towers of the Roman Catholic Cathedral.
The square-towered English Church we pass further up the street
on the left hand side, and then the long new Government Buildings
brick-built and capacious. Over the garden walls on each side hang
bright purple flowers, or up aloft from behind them stand the long-
fingered tapering cactuses twenty or thirty feet high ; then past the
hospital on the right hand side. Further on are gardens round
the single-storied, bright-painted villas, all without chimneys or
glass windows ; they look out into the park or grass savannah in
front that lies on our left hand, fringed with trees, till at last
we come to the little lodge or guard house at the entrance of the
Botanic Gardens, where the sentry turns out to salute, and so to
Government House, which has a projecting porch over the front
door like that at Sandringham ; here we found that the captain
had been stung that morning in the bath-house by a huge wasp ;
"a caution to bathers." We lunched at 11 A.M., and at 1 P.M.
three wardroom and three gunroom shipmates joined us, and so
did Mr. and Mrs. Agostini and Mr. Wilson (who hails from
Deeside), and we drove out to the Blue Basin, past the barracks
at St. Anne's at the end of their heavy avenue (where a company
of the 4th Regiment is stationed), and through the coolie village,
where the Asiatic features of the thin-limbed men and women
standing about, the latter with silver bangles on their arms and
feet, or rings in their noses, and many of the former with some
caste-mark of paint on their foreheads, contrast strangely with
the thick-limbed brawny negro. Some of the coolies are Chinese.
All the houses stand on stilts to let the air under their floors,
and all the cooking is done away from them in a small out-house
behind, or between a few stones on which the pot rests ; the washing
at the bay behind under the coco palms which fringe its edge.

(

1880. TEINIDAD— HIGH WOODS. 71

The gru-gm palms, the cacao plants with their heavy brown pods,
the bois immortel in full scarlet bloom on its grey branches each
without a single leaf, and the whole aglow like a burning bush
against the blue sky, and numerous other tropic plants and
trees were very fine ; but it came on to rain, heavy and pouring,
and we had to go into a wooden cottage (on stilts like all others) in
the wood amongst bananas and cacao plants for shelter, and never
got to the actual Blue Basin at all. We returned in time for the
six o'clock boat from the jetty and came off in the steam cutter
with Mr. Lawless and Sceales, who met us there ; they had been
out botanizing, but had not had a drop of rain, though we were
wet through.

Jan. Wth, — At 8.30 A.M. the captain and John (who, to keep his
uncle in countenance, has been badly stung in the eye by a
mosquito) came on board. Morning service at 10 A.M. on the
upper deck under the awnings ; we were interrupted, however, by
what turned out to be a false alarm of coming wind and rain, and
the service was hastily concluded and the awnings furled ; neither
the one nor the other appeared, and the sun shone on in full
meridian tropic heat for the rest of the day.

Jan, 12th. — Left the ship at 9 A.M., a party of eighteen officers
or more, landed and went straight to the station, where we met the
Governor and his aide-de-camp and Mr. Sendall. Went in a special
train under the charge of Mr. Tanner (Director of Public Works)
and Mr. Marryatt by San Josef to Couvas, through woods and
clearings and sugar plantations. When crossing the Caroni river
noticed the mangrove-trees with their curious roots standing out
from the mud, and then past a lofty tree on the left, from which
dangled several orioles' nests like pouches, each more than a
yard in length, and which on returniog we took home with us.
The bird, to defeat the monkeys and lizards, weaves these purse
nets, and suspends them by a twisted cord of creepers from the end
of a bough. At the bottom of the purse is the nest with entrance
from below : and there, as in a hammock, she swings backwards
and forwards in the breeze. We got out of the train at Couvas,
which is the furthest point the line is yet made to, eighteen miles
from the junction at San Josef, twenty-four miles in all from Port
of Spain, and there saw the Roman Catholic padre and the Protestant
pastor, and drank the Queen's health with them and the railway
people ; then back to Chaquanas (Shagwan) and from there mounted
some open trucks, in which wooden chairs and boards were arranged

72 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

for seats, and went up along the tramway drawn by mules through
the primeval forest to Mr. Neilson's wooden cottage with its deep
.verandahs and cool rooms. He came originally from Dumfriesshire,
and knew the Duke of Buccleuch before Lord Charles was born.
He has been forty-five years out here and is now the " patriarch of
the forest." Unfortunately it was wet, but the captain, who had had
his photographic apparatus brought up into the forest, took a few
photos of the trees in the rain. We then sat down to lunch,
which we had brought with us, and after that Mr. Marryatt, Dr.
Lloyd, Mr. Lawless, and ourselves, tramped off under Mr. Neilson's
guidance into the High Woods and saw a balatii tree pierced ; the
wound on the bark is first red, and from this swiftly comes forth
thick white milk ; which in an hour's time will congeal into gutta-
percha. We could not find a water-vine, but enjoyed hacking and
liewing with a long knife-cutlass at the trumpet trees and tough
creepers, which trail and clasp and intermingle around and above
the underwood of cactuses, palms, orchids, and what not. A
beautiful blue moth as big as a bat went flying by over the
crotons with their many-coloured leaves. We could not help
thiuking much of Mr. Kingsley and his book At Last, which we
have been reading lately ; but we were told that the full untouched
beauty of the High Woods, as he describes them, was now three or
four miles further on, as all the larger trees, though several of
those here appear giants to us, have been cut out near the convict
establishment. These forests extend all across the island, but
are being gradually cleared on each side of the rail, and on the
rich soil thus laid bare cacao plantations and sugar cane are
being reared. The railway costs 10,000/. a mile, as all the ballast
has to be brought from Port of Spain, but when it reaches to
San Fernando, twenty-one miles further, it will pay at least 8 or
9 per cent, on the capital expended. It is all Government work,
and on its returns the revenue of Trinidad in a great measure
depends. We saw the coolies and the negroes promiscuously
working together upon it under white foremen.

On arriving at Government House in the evening we found
Fuller and the luggage ; but before going to our rooms all walked
o!f across the gardens for a bathe in the bath-house, where the
Doctor frolicked and frisked and turned somersaults in the water
and dived for shillings thrown to the bottom, as agile and as lithe
as any youngster. Mr. Pyne sent across to the bath from the
cottage some tea and biscuits, which were very jolly. The new and

1880. TEINIDAD— GOVERNMENT HOUSE. 73

substantially-built Government House stands in the middle of
the old Botanical Gardens in a lovely situation, and with its lofty
rooms and deep verandahs was designed by Mr. Ferguson on Indian
model. Our rooms were at the top, looking out upon the woods.
In the verandah outside Mr. Prestoe (the Curator) had arranged
some screens of ferns and crotons in front of two Indian hammocks
there slung in the shade, and had provided other fresh and lovely
flowers all about the rooms, amongst which were a quantity of
English roses, which he renewed every morning. Up under the
eaves of the roof the long paper nests of the Jack Spaniard wasp
were hanging, odd looking like bits of comb, and out of which
had come those that stung the captain and his nephew, who are
occupying the next room to ours. Lizards run about everywhere.
The Doctor dosed us all with quinine before we went down to
dinner, to which came, amongst others, Mr. Bushe (the Colonial
Secretary) and Captain Baker, so that we were twenty-two in
all. This island is in striking contrast with Barbados : that was
all sugar-cane where it is not rock, this is full of great trees and
most luxuriant vegetation of all kinds.

Jan. X'^th. — Woke very early to the sound of the birds, who
have a fine time of it here, as no bird of any sort or kind, under
any pretence whatever, is allowed to be shot in the island : one
was a brown and yellow bird, whose clear ringing note something
like a thrush's has been fancied to resemble "Qu'est ce qu'il veut?"
" What's he want ? " others had a scream like the peacock's ; the
swallows and wrens and other smaller birds were scudding all
about, as we went across the gardens to bathe before breakfast.
This was at 9.30 A.M. ; we then tasted for the first time "pepper
pot," and chirimoyas, and aligator or avocado pears, large round
brown fruit with a light green buttery pulp round the central
stone which you scoop out with a spoon and eat with pepper and
salt; it is more a vegetable than a fruit, and is nicknamed ''mid-
shipman's butter." Then started for the station through the town
by the same road we came up yesterday ; the black vultures, never
molested (for they consume the carrion of the streets), were hopping
lazily about and standing on the roofs of the houses like spread-
eagles with their wings extended to dry in the morning sun.
We left by the ordinary 11 A.M. train for San Josef, several officers
from the ship joining oar party. At San Josef, ten miles from
Port of Spain, mounted on ponies, rode through the town along the
broad grass-grown streets to Monsignore Orsini's, who, although

74 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE, I88O;

resident here, is a Corsican proprietor. There are many Corsicans
in the island ; their ancestors came here from San Domingo at the
time of the overthrow and massacre of the French colony there by
the negroes at the outbreak, in 1790, of the French revolution. We
dismounted for a few minutes and went into his drawing-room and
tasted his wine ; then on to the ponies again and out to Marracas
Fall, past the church at the brow of the hill, the western door of
which was open, so that we saw at the end of the nave and before
the altar the light of the Perpetual Presence burning, and the bell
in the tower was clanging. All the negroes and coolies of the
villages on the road had hung out flags and made arches of
crotons, bamboos and hibiscus (a trumpet-shaped crimson flower),
and stepped out in twos or threes to offer oranges or other trifles to
us both as we rode along. The valley we are riding up is the one
that was first colonised in early Spanish days ; the road crosses and
recrosses the stream, which in parts is like a clear English, Welsh,
or Scotch trout burn, except that the palms and bamboos alone now
and then remind us that we are in the tropics ; the hills on either
side the valley are clothed to their summits with dense forest
verdure, but here and there this has been cleared, and we ride along
narrow paths through the brown-podded shrubs of the cacao
plantations. When we arrived at the cascade we found it was very
full of water, owing to the last few days' heavy rain ; it throws itself
over a steep cliff which rises at the head of the valley sheer for 300
feet, and comes down in spray jets into the pool below that is
surrounded with bright ferns and mosses. Some of us bathed in
the pool, but found the waterfall too stinging. Eeturning down the
valley along the narrow and muddy path, one of us had a narrow
escape of a roll over down the green abyss, for his pony slipped and
over he went at once, but felt the strong arms of a black round
him, who with his large feet held fast to the mud, lifted him up,
then trotted on ahead unconcernedly as if nothing unusual had
occurred. We lunched in a marquee halfway down the valley, at
which Monsignore Orsini, having come out in his hooded buggy,
joined us, and several officers of the 4th Regiment. Afterwards, on
the grass outside, there was some negro wrestling and singlestick,
then back to the station and home. On returning, the views
appeared finer than they did on going up ; one outlook over the
plain was very much like that over the sea in the distance ; at
another spot just above San Josef, from the front of the church
with the yews on the right, the plain looked, in the low evening

1880. TRINIDAD— AEIMA. 75

sunlight, just like an English park with its grass and large rounded
trees standing here and there in the paddocks. The land has in-
creased upon the sea here much as it is doing in the Wolferton
marshes at home upon the Wash ; and where Sir Walter Raleigh
rowed up in his barge is now dry land.

The same day a party of officers from the ship went away in the
steam pinnace up the Caroni river to shoot alligators and iguanas,
and got five. While they were lying-to under some trees in the
river one of these latter deliberately dropped from an overhanging
bough with such good aim that he went head-foremost down the
stoke-hole of the pinnace, to the consternation of the stoker,
who was at first in doubt whether it was a shark or the devil who
had thus come on board seeking to devour him.

Jan. lUh. — Walked across the gardens as usual before break-
fast, down through Mr. Kingsley's cane brake, to the bath in front
of the cottage in which he stayed. The weather was showery, yet
started, after a cup of coffee with the Doctor and Mr. Sendall, at 9.30
A.M. for the train, where we met Mr. Tanner, Mr. Marryatt (of San
Fernando), Mr. Wilson (commissioner for north of the island), and
four officers of the 4th Regiment, and then off to Arima, nine
miles beyond San Josef junction. The sixteen miles of this line
were opened in 1876. The tropic woods here are lovely as else-
where, and the village is prettily situated. We drove up to the
Rest House, where breakfast was ready. It came on pouring with
rain, and for an hour or so we could not go out. At last it cleared
a bit, and we started for a cacao plantation on the other side of
the river, where we saw the berries from the pods dried, spread on
large flat drawers which are pulled out when the sun shines, and
shoved in when the rain comes. Then we all undressed, leaving our
clothes in the wooden hut, and rushed through the wood in nothing
but mackintoshes down to the river, where we had a capital bathe
in a great pool and a long reach, down which came tumbling and
floating great logs of wood, on which some in vain tried to straddle.
Then again to the hut on ponyback, careering round the racecourse.
Afterwards rode up from this to the top of the Calvary, where to
Eddy, who had dismounted and was sitting on the stone steps of
the cross, a dozen or more of the descendants of the aboriginal
Indians, short, thickset men, square-faced, yellow tawny and heavy-
featured, were presented. Their hands are small-boned and deli-
cately shaped. There are but few of this race now in Trinidad, and
they are the remains of the tribes that were here before Columbus

76 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

sailed into the bay : most of those who have survived the incoming
of the Spaniard, the French, the negro, and the coolie, have
migrated from the island across the gulf to the mainland, and now
live round the mouths of the Orinoco. Those we saw, however,
professed to be quite contented with their lot, and asking in their
quiet caressing way if they might touch his feet, seemed pleased,
and said " that under God they had now no prince but the Queen.''
There was a fine broad view from this Calvary away over the
valleys and woods and plain to the gulf beyond. On our
returning to the Rest House some of these Indians came and
danced a fandango on the grass in front, and then gave their shak-
shaks to us (these are short sticks a little over a foot long, at the
upper end of which is a round dried seed-ball, four inches in
diameter and hollow, with a few seeds which are rattled by the
performer to mark time with his dancing). Also an old man grey-
haired, who had walked miles to join the sport, presented an
extraordinary-shaped supplejack stick, and a woman a lot of
flowers. Here too came some coolies, the fathers carrying the
children in their arms. They seemed to be uncommonly fond of
their children : one of the fathers stood with his black -haired,
round-cheeked, clear-eyed handsome little lad in his arms to be
admired in front of the Rest House patiently for a couple of
hours. At length George gave the boy a piece of cake: the
father went away and came back bringing crackers, which he
proceeded to let off on the ground in sign of his joy that his boy
was admired. We heard that this man was one of the best of the
lot, and most successful. The coolie immigration, which is con-
ducted under the most stringent regulations as to the number that
any planter may contract with, and as to their housing, nourishment,
and medical attendance, has enabled the Government to open up
the resources of this island most wonderfully. So intimate and
mutually beneficial is the connection that binds together the
several portions of the British Empire, and enables the Hindoo
of Asia to attain to freedom and plenty in the empty islands
of the Caribbee in America. (There is a good account of the
Coolie Immigration in At Last, pp. 117 to 124, and of the
Education Acts for the island at pp. 344 to 363). At the end of
the five years for which they contract. Government is bound to find
them a free passage back to India : but so contented are they with
their lot here that but few avail themselves of this, and they prefer
to exchange it for a Government grant of ten acres of land and settle

1880. TRINIDAD- COOLIES. 77

down on their savings in Trinidad, where they form entire villages
of their own : and the savings they amass are really extraordinary.
A very practical result of the system is this — every year ships
take back to India returning coolies, with, on an average, seven to
eight thousand pounds between some 400 or 500 souls, exclusive of
quantities of jewellery, often of great value. And, strange as it may
appear, incoming ships bring back many coolies who have spent or
lost their money, who are returning in order to get more, and not
only that, but bring relatives and friends with them. Some rise in
the scale of society, become hotel-keepers, cab proprietors, owners
of race-horses or cattle farms. The contrast between the poor,
abject, slouching, half-starved individual who crawls on board ship
at Garden Reach, Calcutta, and the erect, self-important man who
struts about his West Indian home, clothed in gaudy raiment,
with a goodly balance at the local savings bank, is immense. In
India they cannot earn more than l^d. or 2d. a day. Here they
earn 10s. or lis. per week. Food good and ample is found for
them, house room, and in case of sickness better hospitals and
attendance than can be found in most Eoghsh villages. By the
Education Act all the youngsters are compelled to attend school
some hours every day. If hardships or injustice arise, there is
always the immigration agent or the local magistrate whence to
seek redress, and many barristers, who make a good living out of
the coolie, for the latter loves to go to law. The skilled coolies, as
a rule, finish their tasks (if they labour by piece-work) at 1 p.m.,
and the feeblest about 3 p.m., including all times for meals. Such
labour cannot be called excessive. Formerly their number was
insignificant ; now they form nearly one -third of the population of
Trinidad : and if adult males only are reckoned the proportion of
coolies is much larger. [In the last three years the influx of these
assisted emigrants has been about 3,000 a year into Trinidad.
British Guiana and Trinidad together have taken 90,000 between
1871 and 1882, and during the same period 16,875 have returned
to India, taking with them as their savings no less than 328,243/.]
Doctor Crane, the head of the medical service in the island, and
Mr. Pierre, one of the few pure-blooded negroes who have attained
to the position of magistrate, and who might both by his manners
and speech pass anywhere for an English gentleman, came in and
were presented. We got back to Government House by 6 p.m. :
after dinner went at 8 P.M. to hear the oratorio of Elijah performed
in Prince's Buildings. It was very well rendered, especially the

78 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

instrumental part. We stayed to the end of the first half, and
then went home. As we lay in bed after the lights were put out
it was very curious to observe through the mosquito curtains the fire-
flies — little puffs of white light flitting here and there all over the
room : they don't shine continuously, but apparently flash up for a
second when they like.

Jan. loth. — Started at 10 A.M. on horseback with Mr. Wilson,
Mr. Agostini, Mr. Marryatt, Captain Baldwin, and Mr. Sendall, to
go over the Saddle and Gap to La Pastora, Mr. Borde's place, to
lunch. We had a beautiful ride up the Maravilla Valley and over
the Saddle (a curious ravine at the top of the hill), and then down
through San Antonio, one of the best cacao plantations in the
island, and which belongs to the chief justice. The banana is always
planted along with the young cacao, in order that its large leaves
may act as an umbrella to the young cacao shrubs, which cannot
bear exposure to the direct rays of the sun. We rode through
woods in which the bamboos, the oranges, the candle-trees, and all
the vegetation were growing most luxuriantly. At the police
station we met the Governor, who had driven round another way
by road in the carriage, and shortly after arrived at La Pastora, a
very pretty villa, where we dismounted, and then went down, half a
dozen of us, to the stream a quarter of a mile off to bathe. No
sooner were we in the water than it came on to pour with rain, and so
we had some difficulty to keep our clothes dry, but carried them up
with us under umbrellas in bundles across the lawn, as there were
no ladies in the party, to the house, and there dressed. After a capital
lunch and much kindness from Mr. Borde we rode back. The rain,
however, came down in floods, and we were soaked to the skin ; and
in this state envied one or two of the glistening-skinned natives
that we passed on the road, who had all the shelter they needed
for their heads under palm-leaves which they carried in their hands.
It was intensely hot riding in these steaming clothes, although the
thermometer marked only 82°. Arrived at Government House, got
into dry clothes, and, as the rain had ceased, started at once to
the cricket-match which eleven of our officers were playing against
a team of eighteen Bacchante bluejackets. The men were out for
thirty-nine, and the officers scored fifty for seven wickets. The
ground was in an abominably mashy state owing to the heavy rain.
The first lieutenant was scoring. The men had a capital dinner
provided for them under the shelter of the grand stand close by.
Torrents of rain that night.

1880. TRINIDAD— HUMMING-BIKDS, 79

Jan, l&h. — Yery wet. We were to have had a quiet day in the
Botanical Gardens, but most of the morning we had to stay at
home and were knocking the balls about in the billiard-room,
where also was " Theophrastus Such," just arrived from England,
for those who preferred his converse. A little parrot, sent up as a
present, and a lap, which is a strange thing, half pig and half dog,
with a snout and bristles like a porcupine, arrived. In the after-
noon walked up with Mr. Sendall, Currey, and Dr. Lloyd to " The
Folly " behind the house, from which we got a good view over the
bay southward. Passed many convicts employed in the grounds
sweeping up the leaves and working in the garden. We passed
many patches of the sensitive plant, and convolvuluses of every
hue, and saw many poui-trees in flower, the large yellow blossoms
of which are like a foxglove, only bigger. Nearly all the trees here
bear flowers ; and at first it has a most strange effect to see a great
tree like an ash covered to the summit with blossom like a
scarlet geranium. We picked up a lot of gru-gru nuts which
had been dropped all over the place by children going up to play,
and also round sand-box pods ; these last burst with a loud noise
and shed their seeds : they make capital paper-weights when
filled with lead. At the top met two or three Roman Catholic
priests, and in course of conversation learnt their ideas, without their
knowing who we were, of things in general, Trinidad in particular,
more especially concerning the Bacchante, which we could see lying
off in the roads. Then back to the house. The usual bathe in the
bath-house before dinner, going down to it under the palms and
giant bamboo bushes close to the cottage where Kingsley stayed
with Sir Arthur Gordon — it was Government House in those days —
and from which he wrote his letters which appeared in Good Words.
In the evening the fire-flies were out all over the grass. We heard
first this morning the hum of the humming-birds, "the souls of
dead Indians translated into living jewels." We were standing
in one of the deep verandahs that surround the house behind a
large trailing creeper that hung down and completely hid us from
sight. It was covered on the outside with a number of large pink
flowers ; round these the humming-birds were flitting, though owing
to their quick movement we could not see them unless the sun-
light fell on their flashing colours. The whirr of their tiny wings
as they spun within two inches of our ears, on the other side of the
veil of creeper, was most peculiar and resembled the sound of a
large top. At a little further distance off you would not hear

80 CllUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

it, since there is nothing to conduct the sound as there is in the
case of a top spinning on the floor or table. The humming-birds
and the fireflies with their intermittent flashes of light, the bird
in the day time and the firefly at night, make two of the weirdest
effects imaginable. At 9 P.M. the Governor gave a ball to about
400 guests in the large new room, which opens out from one end
of the drawing-room, and to which many officers came from the
ship.

Jan. I7th. — There was to have been a cricket-match between the
Bacchantes and the Trinidad club, but it had been so wet in the
night that it had to be given up. At 11.30 A.M. started in the
train for a ten miles run to San Josef, the old capital of the
island, and visited Mr. Giuseppi, senior, where we saw the sugar-
cane mill, which was set working this morning : the season
has been so wet or it would naturally have been at work some
weeks ago. We saw the canes being cut by the negroes with their
long cutlasses, stripped, piled in the carts, brought into the mill,
pressed, the juice run through, then boiled and skimmed. Within
twenty-four hours of their being cut the canes must be pressed
under a wheel, and the liquid runs ofi" into a trough. It looks like
muddy water ; it is collected in tanks and clarified with cow's blood
or sulphuric acid, as it simmers over the fire. When it ferments
they cease to boil it, and put in lime half an ounce to 100 gallons.
Then a thick scum rises to the top and as it cools hardens. This
cracks on the surface and the liquid molasses sink to the bottom
and become syrup and drain away into another cistern. Then it
is put in a pan boiler, or vacuum pan. It then becomes a thick
toffee-like substance, and is baled out in pails and thrown into
centrifugals, with small quantities of water added to whiten it.
The revolving oscillators, things like paddle-wheels, which are
turned slowly round in the syrup while it is cooling, cause it to
ooze out at the perforations, and the sugar remains behind beauti-
fully dry and white. This is the old way of making sugar ; we are
to see another at the usine at San Fernando. The remaining
molasses is re-boiled and subjected to the same process again ; and
an inferior sugar is the result. From the treacle which remains
at last rum is distilled. The negroes and coolies who are
working together in the mill seemed much pleased with
our visit. We lunched with Mr. Giuseppi in the old house
at Van Saine, the drawing-room of which is the identical
one in which the capitulation of the island in February 1797

1880. TRINIDAD. 81

was signed, on the one side by Don Alonzo Chacon "last
and best of the Spanish governors," and by General Abercromby
and Admiral Harvey on the other, in which it was stipulated
that all " the capitulators and their sons after them should be
Englishmen, and counted as such, whether they were French or
Spaniards up to that time," and so " I am an Englishman, and proud
to be so," said the old gentleman. At lunch too was Mr. Farfan,
whose ancestors came to the island in 1640, from one of the oldest
families of Spain. It is curious to observe how both the French
and Spanish here have become such out-and-out Englishmen :
they dread nothing so much as the withdrawal of British rule,
which would mean their being absorbed by the republic of
Venezuela over the water and falling back into a state of chaos.
Trinidad in fact, from its large and varied resources, nearly wholly
undeveloped, and its excellent geographical position, bids fair to
become, not many years hence, one of the most valuable possessions
of the British Crown. The island contains over a million acres of
fertile soil ; only a tenth part is now cultivated ; nearly the whole
of the remainder is unappropriated Crown land. The population is
less than that of Barbados (though in extent it is three times as
large as that island). Commercially, Trinidad takes the lead of
British Guiana and every British West Indian colony, without
exception. With its teeming soil and salubrious climate, it is
capable of supporting over a million inhabitants, ten times the
number that it now does. The government is administered by a
Governor, with an Executive Council of three members (the colonial
secretary, the attorney-general, and the senior military officer).
The legislative body is a council of six official and eight unofficial
members, all of whom are appointed by the Crown from repre-
sentative residents, the only object being to get the ablest and
most competent advisers on local matters. Sir Arthur Gordon,
the late Governor, established a capital system of public
education in the colony, and the present Governor has done
much for remodelling taxation. Before his time all uncultivated
lands were taxed a shilling an acre and the cultivated lands five
shillings an acre, which was a premium on keeping the land
uncultivated. But now all land, whether cultivated or not, is
taxed one shilling an acre, to the great advantage of the colony,
as each man has everything to gain by clearing and cultivating his
holding. The same principle has been carried out as regards
import dues : everything brought to the island was heavily taxed,

VOL. I. G

82 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

but the Governor has persuaded his council to sweep away all these
dues, and to make the Port of Spain a free port ; the only three
things that pay duty on entrance are spirits, tobacco, and kerosine
oil. Since this ordinance was passed, the commerce of course has
greatly increased. The imports have doubled themselves in ten
years, and now stand at nearly three millions sterling, the exports at
about the same figure. Ultimately all taxation will be reduced, and
locomotion by rail will pay for all the expenses of government. Not
many English come out here from home, as some capital is required
for taking up land as cleared. Yet why should they not, if fond of
the tropics? Two hundred acres will cost 200/. to buy; on this say
3,000/. would have to be spent spread over six years, or perhaps even
up to the end of the tenth year. This w^ould then (they say) give a net
income of 1,400/. for fifty years at least. This is in cacao planting.
(Law, Hoiv to Establish and Cultivate an Estate of One Square Mile
in Cacao, 1865.) This year the survey of the island has been com-
pleted, and the boundaries of the provinces and estates laid down
with some approach to accuracy, though out and away the largest
portion of the island is still virgin soil or primeval forest. It is to
be feared that previous to this there were many forged certificates
of land, and much peculation, by unprincipled coloured officials who
misbehaved themselves in other ways, but who have been lately
routed out.

We each planted two trees, one on either side of the road
up which Sir Walter Raleigh advanced to San Josef when he
landed in the Caroni river. We returned to Port of Spain by
train, riding on the engine, and then drove to the new police
barracks, over the airy rooms and passages of which we went, and
then saw the volunteers, who were drawn up in the quadrangle
below, put through their drill, and so home. Walked with Mr.
Prestoe through the Botanical Gardens and chose some orchids to
be sent to Sandringham, including one called Spirito Santo, the
flower of which is exactly like a dove, and another, called the
Lady's Slipper, very pretty. We wanted to get the seeds or cut-
tings of some of the many odd-shaped flowers that go trailing
and twisting about so fantastically and are of all sorts of colours.
But the gardener told us the seeds would not bear exporting, they
invariably lose their fructifying power during trans-shipment
to England. Saw the grove of dark-leaved nutmeg trees laden
with their bright yellow fruit, slit at the side and showing
the red mace and nut in the interior; also the clove plants

1880. TKINIDAD— BOTANICAL GARDENS. 83

on wbicli the cloves form before the flower comes ; then to the
calabash-trees and the cannon-ball tree, the fruit of which is as
large as a sixty-eight pounder (roundshot), an unpleasant sort of
thing to have fall on your head ; it is not used for any purpose.
Saw also the papaw tree, under the leaves of which if a piece of
tough meat is hung it becomes tender in a few hours, and then the
bread-fruit tree, with large green fruit and deeply cut leaves a foot or
more across, and the banana, " the lush fat green stem, the crown
of huge leaves falling over in carves, and below the whorls of green
or golden fruit, with the purple spike dangling and protruding
below them : and all the product of a few months, for not one lives

more than a year." Lastly we saw the " Scotch lawyer," a huge
climbing and aspiring creeper, who while young attaches himself
to some strong and flourishing tree, and by the increase of his own
growth gradually overpowers that to which he had at the beginning
clung for support, and then with vigorous pertinacity increases his
power over the poor thing until he overwhelms its, independence,
and at the end flourishes over the ruins of his former support.
Just before we started to go down to the pier we heard the sound
of the rain coming from the distance ; you can hear it beating on
the leaves of the trees on the hillside a long way off, until, as it
gradually comes nearer and nearer, it sounds literally just like the

G 2

84 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

roar of a torrent. We drove down to the jetty and caught the
six o'clock officers' boat off to the ship. So ended our visit to Sir
Henry Irving. He has been very kind to us, and we have learnt
much from him whilst staying this week ashore in his cool and airy
house. This evening Captain Lord Charles Scott and the officers
gave a dinner to the officers of the 4th Regiment.

January ISth we spent quietly on board, and there were the usual
services. In the afternoon we were reading and writing, and at
night turned in early.

Jan. 19th. — All the forenoon was spent in preparing the upper
deck for an afternoon dance. The awnings were spread and lined
inside with the foreign ensigns, which are long enough to hang
down over the hammock nettings. Many flowers were sent off by
Mr. Prestoe for decoration, and with them the brake of the poop
and the rails round the hatchways were covered. All was com-
pleted by 1 P.M. and looked very pretty, but the rain threatened
to spoil it. However at 3 P.M. the Governor and his aide-de-camp,
the colonial secretary, Mr. Send all, and others came off. There were
over two hundred guests in all, for whose convenience one large
steamer was chartered, and brought them all off together across
the three miles that lay between us and the jetty ; she came along-
side the Bacchante so that they could all walk on board. They
continued dancing till 6 P.M. Smoking was at the after end of the
poop behind a screen of flags : ices were served in the chart house,
drinks and light refreshments under the poop. There was a good
deal of cheering as the steamer left wdth the guests for the shore,
some of whom hoped the island would not be forgotten ' because
it was so far from its great mother, but that we would sometimes
think of them and help them along.'

Jan. 20th. — At 1 A.M. weighed and proceeded southwards down
the bay under steam, having previously embarked Sir Henry
Irving, and suite. The eastern shore of the Gulf of Paria
is flat and mangrove-covered, broken only at one point by the
conical hill of San Fernando, which we passed, and arrived at
La Brea some thirty-six miles south, still in the Gulf of Paria, at
1.30 P.M., where we anchored in five fathoms. We landed in the
steam pinnace on the black-pitch beach and walked up to the Pitch
Lake, rather more than a mile and about 138 feet above the sea.
The road is black with pitch, but there is much vegetation on either
side, and negro huts and gardens full of flowers, white and yellow
and purple. The pine-apples of La Brea are famous ; the heat of

1880. TRINIDAD— PITCH LAKE. 85

the soil and of the air brings them to perfection. Some few rode on
ponies and others drove up in two-wheeled carts, in each of which
four chairs were arranged ; but the jolting was found by those who
indulged in a drive to be too provocative at first of laughter and
then of wrath. Arrived at the lake, the effect was like a laro^e
marsh (it covers ninety-nine acres and is about half a mile in
diameter) of black mud hardened on the surface, but with
many pools and with lines of stagnant water stretchino- here
and there glistening in the sun, while the borders are all
surrounded, except on the further side inland which is forest, by
dwarf trees, of which also there are a few on small islands here and
there in the marsh. Leave had been given to the petty officers of
the ship, who nearly all had availed themselves of it. Some of them
on arriving at once took off their shoes and stockings to wade across
the shallow-looking water ; this however covers faults in the pitch
in many places and hence you have to go ver^ cautiously or else you
are tripped up in a hole, which fate befell more than one of the blue
jackets, and the unexpected duckings that ensued as they went
incautiously rolling over into the mess contributed to their amuse-
ment though not to the neatness of their clothes. But strange
to say the pitch itself does not soil. It is so full of earthy matter
that it can be scraped up and moulded into any shape of lump
you like. George came down with his pony in the midst of
one such trap. The more wary of the party availed themselves
of the help of long boards with which knowing and stalwart negroes
bridged these dangerous passages and guided their steps to the
centre of the lake where the pitch is soft ; in some parts not more
so than asphalte pavement on a sunny day, but in others regularly
bubbling and oozing up with an evil smell as of petroleum and
sulphuretted hydrogen at once. The pitch sells at about 1/. a ton ; in
one year nearly 40,000 tons were exported. Excavations from which
many tons have been broken up for exportation are filled up again
in the course of a few weeks by the gradual closing in of the sides
and bottom. In the centre of the area the pitch is constantly rising
up en masse, not breaking out in streams. It is still boiling with
an indefinitely slow motion.

It is supposed that " buried vegetable matter, w^hich would have
become peat and finally brown coal in a temperate climate, becomes
under the hot tropic soil asphalte and oil, continually oozing up
beneath the pressure of the strata above it. Throughout the
neighbourhood the ground is full to the depth of hundreds of feet

86 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

of coaly and asphaltic matter. Layers of sandstone or of shale
containing this decayed vegetable alternate with layers that contain
none. And if, as seems probable, the coaly matter is continually
changing into asphalte and oil, and then working its way upward
through every crack and pore to escape from the enormous pres-
sure of the superincumbent soil, it must needs carry up with
it innumerable particles of the soil through which it passes."

Walked down to the landing-place again, and got off to the steam
pinnace in some old rattle-trap shore-boats, and so on board. At
5 P.M. weighed and steamed back from La Brea to San Fernando,
where, at 6.30 p.m., came to in five fathoms. The heat on board
to-night, sleeping in grass hammocks slung under the poop, was
more oppressive than anything we have yet experienced.

Jan. 21st. — Left the ship at 9.30 A.M. in the Arthur (Turnbull's
steamer), which has been placed at our disposal, and landed at
the pier of San Fernando a large party of officers from the ship ;
drove up through the town, which was all alive with negroes and
coolies, men, women, and children, animals, and green decorations,
to the tramway station. Up the hill thither many of the
negroes and coolies ran after and alongside the carriage in which
were the Governor and ourselves, and cheered us all enthusi-
astically and indiscriminately. One coolie woman, when unable
any longer to keep up with us, fell behind most regretfully, and,
prompted by the sudden impulse of offering something, took off
the silver bangle she was wearing and threw it into the carriage.
It made a very good ornament to a walking-stick. Another old
negro, white-headed, came running with a curious knobbed stick
which he had had fifty years, and wished it to be taken to England
in his memory. It was so, and, "given to the Queen," is now
stowed in the Swiss Cottage with other curiosities at Osborne.

We got into two railway trucks with covered roofs to shade us from
the sun, and planks arranged crossways for seats, attached to two
engines. We proceeded slowly and deliberately on our way, until
at a little distance from the town the first truck left the metals, the
consequence of which was that every one embraced his neighbour
and wondered for the moment what had happened. By the help
of screwjacks, &c., after three-quarters of an hour's delay, the truck
was hoisted on to the line again, and on we went along a rough and
rather shaky line over a rolling and hummocky country covered with
cane for the most part, but broken here and there by watercourses,
up to theusine of St. Madeleine, to which we were carefully piloted

1880. USINE AT SAN FEENANDO.

by Mr. Slade, the superintendent of the works. This line was
never intended for passenger traffic, but only for conveying the
canes to the mill and the sugar to the shore. Mr. Fenwick showed
us all over the sugar works, and explained the whole process.
Throughout the West Indies the planter is usually not merely a
sugar grower but a sugar maker also. But it is impossible to
attend to two things successfully at once, the fields and the engine-
house. This factory has been established in order to take the sugar
making entirely off the planter's hands We saw the cane
first drawn into the mill, then crushed, and the refuse taken
straight to the furnace while the juice is pumped up to the
top of the two-storied building. Thence it falls into vats and
is boiled eight times over, and then allowed to run through
charcoal filters, which operation is twice repeated and the
refuse is then run off for molasses. The filtered juice is then
passed on through vacuum pans in which we saw it simmering,
and at last it granulates, and is then passed through turbines
where it is winnowed into the finest brown sugar. The usine at
St. Madeleine cost, with the railways, reservoirs, &c., in connection
with it, about 240,000/. sterling, and is capable of making (when
the new mill, which Eddy christened to-day, is at work) from
forty-five to fifty tons of sugar per diem. Last year the average
output was thirty-five tons per day, and for the whole crop 4,280
tons. There was at that time only one mill, driven at a speed of
two revolutions per minute by an engine running at thirty revolu-
tions, and indicating 140 horse-power. There are ten boilers of
120 lbs. each, the steam from which is used for driving not only the
mill but the rest of the engines in connection with the water
arrangements, for condensing the steam coming from the vacuum
pans, for the vacuum pan engines themselves, for the engine which
drives the centrifugals, and for the distilling engines. The con-
sumption of coal is about thirty-five hundredweight a day, beside
which there is burnt in the boilers about 160 hundredweight of
crushed cane as it comes from the mill per day. There are about
twenty miles of tramway in connection with it branching off into
the plantations, and it takes five locomotives and eighty trucks to
bring in the canes, which are weighed on their arrival and paid for
to the estates supplying them, according to the price of sugar at
the time. The number of men employed is about 300. There are
two of Siemens's electric lights of 1,400 candle power for lighting
up the railway-yard, &c. The time it takes from the canes being

88 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

crushed to the sugar being turned out and fit for use is about
twenty-four hours on an average, but occasionally it is made in
much less time. These particulars were given us by Mr. John
Slade on the spot.

We lunched at the house above the mill, in front of which there
was a large traveller's palm growing, several of the great cabbage-like
stalks of which we cut, and out came spirts of living water.
But care must be taken to be sure you get the right plant, for
lately in British Guiana an inexperienced traveller having, as is the
custom in tropical countries, taken a draught from the stem of one
of the water-holding plants which grow in the forests, afterwards
drank a " nip " of rum. Shortly afterwards he died in great agony,
and a post-mortem examination showed that his internal organs
were literally sealed up with india-rubber. He had drunk the sap
of the Mimiisops halata, the juice of which coagulates and hardens
in alcohol, and the rum had its usual effect in the man's stomach
with necessarily fatal results.

Then got on to the trucks again and were run up five miles further
to the mission village of Monke}7 Town (which consists of two broad
streets of stores and cottages), and is to be called from this
day forward Princes Town. Here we planted two trees by the side
of the church, and then mounted ponies and rode to the mud
volcanoes. The road for the first half of the distance is in very fair
condition, but on turning off we got upon the muddiest road we
ever saw, in parts of which our ponies plunged right up to their
girths and in others went sliding down the sides of the hill. The
narrow path went winding through the tropic wood with ferns and
orchids and trailing creepers on all sides, dark with thickest shade
and stifling with moistest heat, and more than one huge fallen log lay
right across the track. At length we arrived where there was a
space of about two or three acres of clearance in the wood, of
brown yellow against the forest greenness that rings it round, and
there the hillocks of finest grey mud were, each being four and six
feet high and reeking with a smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. In
dry weather they are more active than they are to-day, spirting up
their contents several feet, but now they seem to be pretty still ;
anyhow they are worth seeing, though most of us are drenched
through and through. Alone it must be an uncanny sort of place
to visit, " too much jumbies here." "De debbil he come out here
and walk about," said the negro guide ; but to-day the cheerful noise
of midshipmen's voices hallooing broke the stillness of the haunted

1880. SAN FERNANDO. 89

ground and drove all dark-dreams of evil far away : and the old
gentleman was probably occupied on his walks in thickly-populated
towns, where, for the most part, he seems to find more congenia
occupation for his wits nowadays than in lone forest depths.

Thence we rode back up through the wood again and on to the
open road, where there was some beautiful scenery, to Mr. Darling's
(the "old squire's"), whose house is, with its elaborate wood- work,
so well described in At Last, to luncheon ; after which saw his well-
cared-for coolies, all dressed alike, what little dress there is, per-
forming their native sword exercise and doing tumbling and other
acrobatic feats on the lawn ; but soon had to leave and hurry back
to Princes Town in order that we might get down to San Fernando
before dark. Again upon the trolly, we went along very cautiously
as the line was somewhat out of repair, getting out and walking
over the wooden bridges en route in order to ease the weight of the
trucks, and in one place especially where one side of the bridge had
already given a couple of feet through the effect of our morning's
crossing.

On arrival at San Fernando found the whole place illuminated
and went down to the jetty to get on board the Arthur, through
two rows of men with torches ; and so off to the Bacchante in the
same way as we had been brought ashore in the morning.

Jan. 22nd. — Mr. Marryatt (the mayor) came off to say good-
bye, and at 10 A.M., we got under way, left San Fernando and
steamed back to Port of Spain. At 3 p.m. bade farewell to all our
visitors in the pouring rain. They went ashore in the steam launch,
which brought off our mails, and we saluted the flag of his excel-
lency the Governor with seventeen guns, and then steamed out of
the Gulf of Paria through the Boca des Huevos in a drizzle. We
notice, as we pass, Chaquaramus harbour, which, when the line of
tram has been laid from Port of Spain, will probably be some day the
chief port of the island, as ships of any burden can lie close along-
side the shore instead of miles out as at Port of Spain. This was
our last look at Trinidad, as the evening fell, where we have spent
a most pleasant time, full of reminiscences of the courtesy, hospi-
tality, and kindliness, alike of the governor and of the planters and
official and professional gentlemen we have met. We long now
for a little quiet at sea. The tumble of the surf, the rush of the
fresh trade wind, the heaving of the swell, and the difference in
the temperature when we are outside, tell us that another stage of
our cruise is past and that the Gulf of Paria has been changed for

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

the broad Caribbean Sea. By the last mail the news arrived that
Surgeon Delmege was promoted to be Staff-surgeon in Her
Majesty's fleet. We were both weighed and measured to-day.
Eddy weighs 115 lbs., and is 5 feet 5 J inch in height. He has
increased seven pounds in weight within the last two months and
grown nearly an inch since leaving England. George only weighs

TRINIDAD TO GRENADA, GRENADINES AND ST. VINCENT.

88 lbs., and is 4 feet 10| inch high. Thanks to gymnastics his arm
is nearly as thick as his brother's. He is nearly an inch taller than
the Duke of Edinburgh was at the same age in 1858.

Jan. 2Srd. — ^After steaming due north all night, made sail to
topgallant sails at 7.30 A.M. to a good brisk north-east "trade " — a
delightful change from the mugginess of the gulf. The next day
sailed northwards till abreast of St. Lucia: bright sunny day and

1880.

TRINIDAD TO GRENADA.

the beautiful wind from the north-east dry and cheering. At 2
P.M. wore ship, and while sailing south-east, at 4 p.m., passed on
our starboard hand a Danish corvette standing to the north-west ;
could not make out her name as we had no code with a list of the
Danish men-of-war. We made our number to her, and she at once
wore and began to follow us. She made no signal, so we continued
to keep on our way. Ultimately, when she found she could not over-
take us she tacked again, and stood away to the north-west. She
was the Daginar. Prince Waldemar, the brother of the Princess

TRINIDAD TO GRENADA, GRENADINES AND ST. VINCENT.

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Jan.

N.E. 1-4

N. i7W.

N.E. 6-3

11-47

62-5

N. 24W.

148

N.E. 5-6

14-0

63-8

25S.

S. 41 E.

...

N.E. 4-3

12 59

62-15

N.E. 3-4

Feb.

IS.

E. 1-2

N.E. 2-4

...

N. 19 E.

N.E. 3-6-4

12-40

61-40

...

N.E. 4-7-5

N.E. 7-6

N. i W.

N.E. 6-7

12-41

61-28

N.N.E.

N.E. 7

13-11

61 10

468

Total distaiK

3e... 531 niik

of Wales, was a lieutenant on board and officer of the watch at the
time. During all Sunday we were sailing smoothly over summer
seas as blue as a sapphire, a few clouds flecking the sky, beneath a
light cool wind. In the evening Grenada was forty-three miles
ahead to the south-east. We have made a long leg to the north
during the last three days beating up for this island against the
trade wind. It is really only ninety-five miles distant from the
coast of Trinidad.

Jan. 26th. — At 2 A.M. observed land ahead and on the port bow,
and at 3 A.M. tacked, and at 7.30 A.M. tacked again. Before break-

92 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

fast we were sailing along under the west coast of Grenada, which
is hilly, woodGd, and peaked. Saw St. Catherine's Peak, which is
the highest in the island, and at 11.20 A.M. came to in eight
fathoms off Fort George. The bay's entrance, away to our right, is
some two hundred yards across. On its right or southern side
rises a cliff of reddish brown volcanic sand. To the left of this
bay rises the headland of rocks of hard lava crowned with the old
fort off which we lie. Inside the bay, away at its southern end, is
an inner bay or circular lake a quarter of a mile across and forty
feet deep, separated from the outer by a coral reef. It is probably
the mouth of an old crater. It is said the old French town stood
on its lip, but was swallowed up or washed away. From our
anchorage we can see the town of St. George with its red -brick
houses, away to the left among cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees,
and a broad street running up the hill side, and the two churches
with their towers, one a Roman Catholic and the other an English
church. On the headland itself which separates the two bays, and
off which we lie, are the remains of the old Fort George and
barracks, now utilised for a police station since the British troops
have been withdrawn from the islands. There is another group
of barracks on the hill-top behind the town (the Richmond heights),
in an old fort 800 feet above the harbour ; they are utilised for a
prison ; and yet a third, to the south-east, left vacant in the same
way, is now used as a central lunatic asylum for all the four islands
of this Windward group.

Captain Maling, colonial secretary, came off. Landed at 1.30
P.M., at the wharf alongside which steamers can load, and were
driven up by Mr. Engledow, private secretary, to Government
House. Saw Colonel Harley, who told us that Prince Waldemar
had left two days previously in the Dagmar, and Major Strahan
yesterday in H.M.S. Tourmaline. We hear too that H.M.S.
Atalanta left Barbados on the 9th for Tobago, from which
island she sailed northward, and when off St. Kitt's reported two
cases of yellow fever, and one death from the same on the 21st, so
we shall not meet them again.

Government House stands on a knoll 300 feet high, with the
" trade " blowing through it ; and from the terrace outside we had
a fine view up the valley of Tempo on the north-west, and of tier
on tier of wooded hill beyond into the interior. In the garden just
outside the drawing-room window rises the enormous candelabra
cactus, thirty feet high, and by its side a Chapeau chinois bush with

1880.

GRENADA.

saffron-scarlet blossoms, round which the humming-birds are
flitting.

This island, which is rather smaller than Barbados, was dis-
covered by Columbus in his third voyage in 1498, and called by
him Ascension. The Spaniards never occupied it. In 1627 the
English took possession ; the Caribs were the principal inhabitants
till 1651, when the French made a descent on the island from
Martinique and exterminated them, but did no more. They came
again in 1779, but since 1783 the English have held it in peace.
The island is divided into six parishes, four of them named after
the national patron saints, St. George, St. Patrick, St. Andrew,
and St. David. They contain about forty-two thousand souls in
all. The average revenue of all four islands of the Windward group
(Grenada, St. Yincent, St. Lucia and Tobago), is about 18s. per head
of the inhabitants. Half of it is raised on imports, the rest as
excise, or from stamps. Each island however has a different tariff;
and each a separate legislative body, consisting of not fewer than
three members nominated by the crown. Surely one local parlia-
ment would be a liberal allowance for the four islands, which
combined only equal in extent an average English county ; and
they might assimilate their tariff. The chief expenditure of the
Government is on roads, public works, education and negro hospitals.
There is concurrent endowment of the religious bodies, in three
out of the four islands — in St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Tobago, but
not in Grenada.

AT GRENADA.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Noon.

P.M.

Noon

6P.M

Jan.

E. 1 -3

N.E.I 2

N.E. 1-3

N.E. 1-2

N.E. 1-3

According to their own account this is the most prosperous of
the Windward group. The cacao plantations have given them
quite a new life. Last year (1878) their revenue exceeded
expenditure by £7,000, which will be laid out in improving the

94 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

roads of the island. These are particularly wanted in this
island, for there are many small estates inland which with improved
means of communication could supply abundant produce for ship-
ment. The tracks called roads are only passable on horseback,
and barely that. The greater portion of the cacao grown in
Grenada is raised on small properties of ten or fifteen acres. When
a cacao estate is well established it costs about 12s. an acre to keep
it up : or an expenditure of 8s. per 100 lbs. of cacao grown.

The next day remained on board writing letters for the mail,
which left at 8 A.M. on Wednesday 28th. Two of the midshipmen,
who went ashore in the afternoon, were taken by the negroes for
us, and followed all about St. George's enthusiastically. On
Wednesday, ship's company bathed overboard, in a sail, morning
and evening. In the afternoon seining party away to the north
along the west coast of the island : they did not return till mid-
night, when they brought on board heaps of fish, a third of which
at least they had to throw away as uneatable. They had drawn
the seine three times on the sandy beach. In the cool of the
evening some of us went up to Government House and played
lawn-tennis. The blacks here seem to be holding high festival ;
they have got their own emperor and empress, generals and admirals,
courtiers and aide-de-camps, all dressed up in the public square,
where they are dancing and frisking about with drums and tom-
toms, apparently all day and all night without any cessation. That
evening Colonel Harley, with his private secretary, the Attorney -
general, and the colonial secretary, came off to dinner. H.M.S.
Northam2)ton, Captain J. Fisher, bearing the flag of Vice-admiral
Sir Leopold McClintock, anchored at Barbados.

Jan. 29ih. — Bathed overboard in a sail, after gymnastics and
drill. In school all the forenoon, at which notice of the English
essays which we have to write was given out. Every midshipman
is to write three during the cruise and send them in to the captain
at fixed dates. He will give a prize for the best description of the
places the Bacchante visits. At noon we landed, a party of seventeen
officers, at the quay, where we mounted on steeds and rode through
the town — its streets are paved with small pebbles — and through
the market-place, where the " Reseda Company " of blacks were
dressed up in as many colours as dress will admit of, and as many
ornaments as they can carry, and still performing. They carry a
large flag or long banner, its ends borne aloft, fastened to poles.
Grinning and shouting, the men and women sway about in the dance,

1880. GRENADA. 95

and the old men sit on the ground beating time on a couple of
tom-toms, or native drums. Outside the town the road skirts the
bay and then turns to the right inland, alongside the stream, in
which many washerwomen were pounding clothes; it then gradually
mounts the hills and leads on through the woods, in which, as at
Trinidad, giant bamboo canes and palms and creepers are most
conspicuous.

At one place we halt to get a cool drink from fresh cocoa-nuts.
The negro walked, not climbed, up the stem like a four-footed
animal, his arms and legs straight, his feet pressed flat against it, his
hands clinging round it, and tossed down the green nuts, from which
others with two or three blows of a cutlass cut off the point of the
nut. We each had a drink as we sat in the saddle, and anything
more refreshing in the heat it is impossible to imagine. Then
on through cacao plantations ; the finest of these belonging to Mr.
Freeling. This mountain-path leads away to Granville on the
eastern side of the island. Alongside the road, out from George-
town, are iron milestones from Glasgow, which have an odd appear-
ance. We are climbing the backbone of the island, and from the
top, through the woods, can trace the bays on both sides. When
at Grand Etang, seven miles from St. George and 1,740 feet above
the sea, we are on the weather side, and can see the breakers rolling
in before the trade-wind on the eastern shore. All the last part
of the way the path has had to be cut through the jungle for to-
day's picnic, which is given by the Attorney-general, who has had
also a pretty sort of al fresco hall erected of bamboo and palm-
leaves, for the lunch, at which crayfish, from the mountain-stream
close by, and the black pine-apples from Antigua were new to us
and very good. Then walked down to the little lake or pond, to
which a road had been cut through the jungle, and round which
enormous bamboos and tree-ferns are growing. A boat had
been started upon it, into which, from a stage, some of the party
got and paddled about, though the water is more or less covered
with weed. It is said in parts to be sixteen feet deep, and is the
crater of what was once, evidently, a volcano. Rode back in the
cool of the evening.

Jan. ^^th. — Overboard for more than half an hour this morning
bathing. The sea is deliciously pure, such a contrast to that at
Trinidad. This evening, at 6.20 P.M., George Knight, stoker, aged
twenty-nine, died, and the next morning (31st) we landed at
7 A.M. for his funeral, which was in the cemetery to the north

96 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

of the town — a pretty spot on a rocky slope between the road and
the sandy beach, and overshadowed with palm and other trees. In
the early morning the humming-birds were flitting about ; the Dead
March played by the band, and the three volleys fired over his grave
echoed strangely in the stillness. Returned on board to breakfast,
and found the mail-steamer Tiber had arrived from England with
Sub-lieutenant Wolfe Murray on board and many letters for us.
In the afternoon there was a cricket-match between the officers
of the ship and the Grenada cricket club. We were well put
through ; Grenada club : first innings, 57 ; second innings, 32 ;
Bacchante : first innings, 21 ; second innings, 43.

GRENADA TO CARIACOLT.

Feb. 2nd. — At 6 A.M. the mail steamer Essequibo arrived from
Barbados, having Mr. Fleming on board. After bathing and
breakfast prepared for sea. We and the mids. went to school as
usual every morning. At 2.30 P.M. weighed and made plain sail
shaping course to the northward. This weather is perfection,
there is a delicious breeze always blowing, and yet it is warm in
the sun. It is a great pity that the larger landowners in these
West Indian Islands do not run out for two or three months in the
winter and superintend, or see to, the management of their estates.
Communication with England, both by mail and telegraph, is now
easy, and residence here during the winter months in a charming
climate, and amid the loveliest scenery in the world, would afford a
pleasing variety to home life; they would enjoy it and be the
richer for it too. Two estates a couple of miles from the port of
Grenville on the other side of the island, and in the parish of
St. Andrew, consisting of 1,053 acres, have just sold in London for
a little over 5/. an acre. Most was in cane cultivation, only forty
acres were planted in cacao. But other estates have been sold in
Chancery lately, two of which averaged over 70Z. an acre. The
best land for cacao in Grenada is selling for 20/. an acre, and a
great deal of it is bought by the agents of the non-resident land-
owners ; the delusion that prevails in England that West Indian
property is worth nothing is not shared by those on the spot,
neither are the rents transmitted home always an infallible index
of the real worth of the property. In a neighbouring island one
firm of agents have bought up twenty-two estates or two-thirds of
the island, and will allow nothing but sugar to be grown. The
old notions that prevailed when sugar-cane was almost the only

1880. GEENADINES— CAEIACOU. 97

commodity grown, of getting as much as possible out of the island
and grudging every penny spent in it, is here as elsewhere a very
penny- wise-and-pound-foolish policy ; although it will nevertheless
always commend itself to persons of a certain class of mind. But
for English gentlemen who have care or mind to see their own
property administered on more sensible principles there is a
splendid opening, and they might raise the negro by judicious
handling, while now, on the contrary, in too many cases, he and
their acres are going from bad to worse ; and the prevailing im-
pression left upon many who visit the West Indies is that of having
seen glorious opportunities thrown away, and decay, ruin, and
debauchery rampant. Large areas of the islands are held nominally
by absentee or unknown proprietors who have abandoned their
estates ; on these the negroes squat, burn down trees, stick in a
few plantains or bananas, just enough to satisfy their daily wants,
and then thieve from cacao plantations, which are particularly
liable to this sort of depredation, and otherwise relapse into a
semi-savage state, to the injury of the whole community.

Feb. Srd. — At 4.15 a.m. wore; daylight at 6 A.M.; the south
part of St. Vincent was then visible to the north-east and also St.
Lucia, but this last further away. After tacking two or three times
in the afternoon, we came to an anchor in fifteen fathoms at 6 P.M.
off Cariacou, one of the Grenadines. From the anchorage Grenada
is still visible to the south outside the picturesque outline of the
hilly tops of this island, some of which are wooded and others
bare, and all rather grey than green. The outlying little rocky
islands which we see stretching on all sides Jook curious, and the
shoals are of such formation that each has evidently in its centre
the crater of a small but of course extinct volcano.

Feb. 4ith. — We mids. were at school all the forenoon, and after
quarters exercised landing parties. During the afternoon a party
of a dozen officers had a pony ride over the island ; Mr. Mills, the
old patriarch of the place, pioneered us. The Roman Catholic
priest, and the Church of England clergyman, wdth many negroes,
received us on the beach. We had a good scamper over the
grass-grown roads and along the shore on the windward side of the
island, where there was much cotton growing, and a substantial old
house with bow windows, once a charming residence, but now in
ruins, belonging to Admiral Tarleton. All came off before dusk.
The captain and his nephew were away in the galley, and shot an
iguana on one of the outlying rocks, which they cooked and ate.

VOL. I. H

98 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

CARIACOU TO UNION ISLAND.

Feb. 5th. — At 7.30 a.m. made sail, weighed, casting to port, and
shaped course north-quarter-west ; fine morning but squally, force
of the wind six to seven, this carried us along the same number of
knots. At 10 A.M. tacked in order to fetch up to Chatham Bay,
Union Island, another of the Grenadines, with far loftier cliffs and
more wood-clad than Carriacou, where we anchored in nineteen
fathoms at 11.30 A.M. These islands of grey and red rock resemble
the Cyclades of the Grecian Archipelego, or the islets in the Inland
sea of Japan. Their number is 300 ; the largest contains 8,000
acres, the smallest 600. Stock are fed and exported and provisions
grown in most of them. At 2 P.M. gave special leave to the port
watch, who all landed for a large seining party, as did also a few
of the officers ; they found Mr. Muhlsack on the beach on a white
horse to show them where to cast the seine ; they had very good
sport and returned on board before it was dark, having lighted a
fire on the beach (after killing a great black and white snake five
feet long, while gathering wood) and then and there cooked and ate
a large number of the fish. The whole of this island belongs to
one proprietor, who is non-resident, in London. It is very squally
this evening. The captain went away and shot another iguana.

UNION ISLAND TO ST. VINCENT.

Feb. 6th. — At 10 A.M. weighed and made sail to single-reefed
top-sails and top-gallant sails, course about north-west. At 2 P.M.
tacked heading up to south-east, and again, at 5 P.M., laying up to
north-half- west, very pleasant and jolly. Began our first essay on
Barbados and Trinidad.

Feb. 7th. — At 4.20 A.M. wore, and at 9.15 shaped course south-
east, as we have run to the northward of St. Vincent during the
night. All the forenoon we are sailing back south along its
western shore, off which was borne to us a strong sulphur smell.
The doctor said at first he was sure this proceeded only from the
emptying of the heads, but, as it lasted for two or three hours,
he afterwards allowed it must be from the Smifridre, although
there was no smoke visible. This island has a more peaked
appearance than any other we have seen; all the lower peaks
are wooded and evidently volcanic. We could not fetch up into
Kingstown Bay under sail, so at 4 P.M. tacked, and at 5.30 down

1880.

ST. VINCENT.

screw, shortened and furled sails, and at 6.15 p.m. commenced
steaming, and came to in twenty-three fathoms at 7.15 p.m., after it
was dark.

AT ST. VINCENT.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Feb.

8S.

N.E. 2-5

N.E. 6-3

N.E. 4-3

N.E. 6-4

Feb. Sth. — Church this morning under the awnings on the
quarter-deck, after which Archdeacon Laborde called and young
Mr. Cowie. At 8 p.m. mail steamer Tiber left with mails for
England.

Feb. dth, — Employed scraping masts and booms and refitting upper
yards. We have heard that the admiral is coming up the islands
on his way to Jamaica, and as we have not yet been inspected since
we joined his command, every one seems to think it likely that he
may overtake us any day and catch us " on the ground hop." At
2 P.M. four of us landed, and having been met by Mr. Cowie on the
pier, rode out by Bolton Tower to his house at Belvidere. The
road first climbed the hills behind the town and then wound down
to the south coast of the island, from which pretty views of the
Grenadines, Bequia and the rest constantly presented themselves.
After passing under a long and lofty grove of palm trees, that
reminded us of that at Codrington College at Barbados, " their tall
immovable pillar stems looking the more immovable beneath the
toss and flicker of the long leaves as they wake out of their
sunlit sleep and rage impatiently for a while before the mountain
gusts and fall asleep again," we came down to the beach by the
curious little island of Douverette in the offing, with its steep
rocky sides and little hut on the top amid its greenery, where a
captain in the 1 0th Hussars selected to live happily alone for a con-
siderable period, and which now is sometimes used as a lazaretto ;
so on through fields of sugar-cane to Mr. Cowie's bachelor diggings ;
a neat, roomy, one-storied wooden house, on stilts as usual, and
full of knick-knacks made by his mother and sisters. Here in

u 2

100 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

the sitting-room had some most refreshing iced drinks, and
enjoyed the nice breeze that was blowing through the house on
this the windward side of the island. Then to the monument to
his father's memory amid the sugar-canes ; and into the mill-yard,
and so back on to the road to Kingstown, from which, however,
we turned off to the right and so went up Dorsetshire Hill, at top
of which there are remains of an old fort now dismantled and used
as a school. It commands as from the summit of a natural
amphitheatre a sweeping view over the whole of the bay below and
of Kingstown, with its parallel streets stretching at our feet, and of
the two branches of lower hills which embrace it in on either side.
Down to the 6 o'clock officers' boat after, a most enjoyable ride.
In the evening we landed again and went up to Government House
to a dance, which poor Mr. Dundas (the lieutenant-governor), who
is in very ill-health, gave. He got up on purpose to welcome us,
but soon afterwards retired to bed leaving Mrs. Dundas to do the
honours. The house is entirely of wood, and one of the most
prettily situated in the West Indies, among its groves of nutmeg
and palm trees, but in rather a dilapidated condition. A new one is
about to be built. The garden is the first botanical one established
in the West Indies. This is the last dance we shall have in the
West Indies, as Lent begins in two days' time.

Feb. 10th. — A cricket match was played to-day between the
Bacchante and the St. Vincent club, in which, as usual, we were
thoroughly beaten — Bacchante, sixty-eight ; St. Vincent, eighty-four.
At 2.30 P.M. we landed with three shipmates and went for a ride
with Archdeacon Laborde, who is one of the oldest inhabitants of
the island. We went through the town and had a look at the
cricket match ; the ground was very sloppy, as much rain had
fallen. The negroes were very enthusiastic. W^e then rode along
the leeward, or western side of the island, to Buccament Valley,
leaving away on the left hand another dismantled old fort, on a
promontory jutting out into the sea. This is the best time of day
for this ride, as the sun is getting low and lights up all the tropic
verdure on the hill-sides. The gru-grus and other palms, a shrub
with a scent like sweetbriar, many trailing creepers hanging in
festoons and blossoms from the trees aloft, half hid the dark-brown
rocks and peaks which border the road, until you come out into the
wide sweep of the sugar-cane fields in the valley itself. Here, as
the afternoon was drawing in and the steeds were rather done,
owing to the heaviness of the road and the heavy weights they had

1880. ST. VINCENT. 101

to carry, we turned back and arrived at the pier just in time to get
off to the ship by the six o'clock boat. We cannot help being much
struck with the signs of former prosperity which this island, as well
as Grenada, presents: the road, most part of the way this afternoon,
had once been paved with stones and kept in decent repair ; it
is now overgrown with weeds and left entirely to itself. The
mere fact of the withdrawal of the English troops, though it was
a necessary saving to the exchequer at home, has certainly not
improved the islands, for on all hands we see signs of what they
were once, but are no longer ; for the presence of several hundred
European troops in each of these towns used to render their
trade much more brisk than it is now. There are about 28,000
negroes in this island, a couple of thousand whites, and the same
number of coolies. There is a large area of unprotected crown
land in St. Vincent, which encourages large numbers of negroes
and bad characters to squat and lead noxious idle lives.

Feb. llth. — Landed at 9.30 A.M., with the Commander, Roxby,
Burrows, and Murray, and rode right across the centre of the
island, going first up by Bellair into the Mariaqua valley and over
the summit ; here we had a lovely view of the distant islands away
to the south, as well as of the uplands in the centre of the island,
their valleys and rolling hills all of course feathered over with
verdure. We rode on to Nutmeg Grove, and there went over the
arrowroot works, where we saw the roots being ground in the mill,
the sediment that remains after repeated washings when dried is
called " arrowroot." We lunched there, outside the shed. This little
estate was bought for £300, and the first year it yielded £700, and has
been yielding the same each year ever since ; it is the propinquity
of the running water which renders it so valuable for arrowroot. A
negro's wages in St. Vincent are 4s. 2d. per week of five days ; he
can live easily on Is. per week, getting his own bread-fruit, and
fish, and with this he is content. The average amount of salt
fish now obtained by him does not exceed twelve ounces per week.
In 1832, before the emancipation, every field negro in St. Vincent
had two pounds of excellent salt fish served out weekly, and head
people had four pounds. A pound and a half was allowed for every
child. Every negro could save £30 per year. Either then there was
much waste of food in the slavery days, or else the present negro
is underfed. The captain overtook us after luncheon, riding with
the archdeacon. We went with them to the top of a hill above
the Nutmeg Grove, where there was a clump of old trees and what

102 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

looks like the remains of a large English garden, with shrubs and
flowers all run wild ; this would make a fine site for a house, and
commands a view each way across the island to the east and the
west. We then came down and went through the Yambon Pass,
which is the best thing we have seen of the kind out of Switzer-
land. At its head stands a little church, much dilapidated, by the
side of the stream, which, running on from here down the Pass to
the sea, soon becomes a torrent, high above which the narrow road
winds on the almost precipitous sides of the valley. Riding along
we get here and there a peep through the tropic vegetation, of the
river roaring at its foot, and as the valley turns and winds a glance
upward or downward, until we come out at last at its mouth on
to level grassy downs, where brown cattle are reposing in the
sunlight on the green, while in the background the blue Atlantic is
rolling in with a thunderous beating on the rocks. This spot is
called " Escape " and the estate is called Argyll, and belongs to the
Due de Polignac, who draws about £2,000 per annum from it. We
cantered across this open space, which seemed almost like a piece
of England, and so up winding roads to Belvidere, and by Calliaqua
to Kingstown, where we just caught the six o'clock officers' boat off
to the ship. Some of these had had good sport with the mountain-
mullet, which rose freely to the ordinary English trout flies ; they
took the hook also when baited with grasshoppers or the Devon
minnow ; the water was very clear in the stream close to the town
and up behind it ; each rod took four dozen or so in the afternoon.
Feb. 12th. — Weighed at 7 A.M., and at 8.30 A.M. proceeded under
steam, to Chateau Bellair and Wallabon. Though it is a pouring
wet morning the archdeacon came on board to say good-bye before
we started ; it continued raining hard till noon, during which time
we were steaming north along the west side of the island. We lay
to off Chateau Bellair, and landed the picnic party, who proceeded
perseveringly to try and reach the summit of the Soufridre
between 3,000 and 4,000 feet high. Those who did this were well
repayed for their pains when they looked down into the twin-
crater cauldrons, and saw the sulphurous steam pouring up and
mingling with the mist caused by the trade-wind as it touched the
summit of the mountain, and then both together came swaying
this way and that way towards them as they stood for a short time
on the edge of the crater, so that they were glad to beat a hasty
retreat along the knife-edge of rock, 700 feet in height, and look
down on the other side upon the dark mountain tarn, with walls of

1880.

ST. YmCEl!iT.—SOUFBI^BR

103

rock 800 feet in height — a clear mirror in an emerald green frame —
which now occupies what was a former crater about two miles in
circumference. The sides of this old vent hole are now clothed
with foliage instead of fire. A plentiful lunch had been liberally

ST. VINCENT TO ST. LUCIA, TO BARBADOS, TO MARTINIQUE,
TO DOMINICA.

Date.

Fkom Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Distance.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Wind.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Feb.

S.E. 3

...

N. 14 E.

N.E. 2-7

13-57

61 -'17

N.E. 6-5

N.E. 5-6

N.45W.

126

Variable 3-1

14-30

61-10

...

N. 3-0

N. 24 W.

35
5

Calm

190

184

tal distan

ce ..3'

Ji mil

es.

supplied and sent forward from Kingstown ; but the arrangements
of the day having been broken up by reason of the bad weather,
the champagne and other liquors never reached the top, and on
returning down the hill, groups of negro bearers were found in

104 CEUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

every stage of drunkenness, maudlin or defiant, but all alike parts
of one repulsive pandemonium. Those who went up the SoufrUre
^ot on board the ship by 5.30 P.M. soaked to the skin, but, after
being well dosed with quinine, no one was one bit the worse. We
saw the remains of the Carib settlement and huts, on the slope of
green above the rugged brown cliffs on the left of the bay. There
are not more than 200 of them. A portion of the island is entirely
reserved for their use by the government ; here they live with
a king of their own, thriving as best they may and never going to
law outside their own people, but settling all their disputes amongst
themselves. They live now almost wholly by fishing, and are
peaceable and harmless. They intermarry only amongst themselves,
and live quite apart from the negroes, from whom they are readily
distinguishable, as their colour and their features are quite different.
One Carib came off to the ship in his canoe, which was merely a
log of wood roughly scooped out by means of fire and hatchet;
he was asked whether he would fight with a shark in the water,
and he answered that though his fathers did, they had not "learned
the young ones " so to do. They used to swim round the shark,
and after diving, rise suddenly and rip it open with a sharp knife
before the beast had time to turn on its pursuer. As soon as the
cutter had brought the officers on board we hoisted her up, and
proceeded, at 6 P.M., under steam, north by east on our course to
St. Lucia.

Feb. ISth. — At 6.30 A.M., sighted the island of St. Lucia right
ahead. After divisions dropped a target overboard, and fired away
half of our quarterly allowance of shot and shell at it. At 5.15 P.M.
came to in eleven fathoms outside, but not in, Castries Bay. It is
one of the finest harbours in the West Indies, but as we hope to get
away under sail, when we leave, we remain meanwhile pitching in
the swell outside. From the sea St. Lucia appears a longer island
than St. Vincent, but the hills are not so high ; there is one large
fiat-headed table-land conspicuous in the centre ; the two taU sugar-
loaves (each 3,000 feet high) of the Pitons were to-day distinguish-
able at its southern end, and Pigeon Island, at its northern end, is
just such another cone. The view from our anchorage is desolate,
but it is a fine starlight night, though squally. We hear the
admiral is at Grenada following us up.

Feb. 14fth. — In the afternoon we landed and went up on ponies to
the Morne Fortune, 800 feet of steep hill. It was once the chief
fort of the island, where Prince Edward, father of Her Majesty the

1880.

ST. LUCIA.

105

Queen, when Duke of Kent, after a fatiguing march of fourteen
hours, planted the English flag, on the 4th April, 1794 ; the stump

of the staff is still remainino^.

AT ST. LUCIA.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Feb.
14
15S.
16
17

N.E. 6-4
N.E. 3-4

N.E. 5-6
N.E. 4-6

77
76
76
76

7°7
76
76
76

75
78
79
76

7°5

77
77
75

The view over the interior of the island is very lovely ; so much
so that Mr. Kingsley thinks this of all the West Indies " the
most beautiful." " It was this same steep which Sir John Moore
and Sir Ralph Abercromby took, after a month's contest, with
terrible loss of life, in May, 1796, dragging the guns across ravines
and up the acclivities of the mountains and rocks, and then
advanced to attack the works, along a narrow neck of down,
which the French and the negroes had to surrender, with 100 guns
and all their stores ; the negroes escaped to the bush, murdering
English and French alike ; till Moore, who was nearly caught by
them, had to row for his life to St. Yincent in a six-oared boat, and
thus was saved for the glory of Corunna. The forts are crumbling
now, the barracks empty. To the north and east a wilderness of
mountain peaks, to the west lies the bay, mapped out in sheets of
blue between high promontories, and beyond all is the open sea.
All lying well-nigh as it has been since the making of the world,
waiting for man to come and take possession." There are a great
number of abandoned estates here, and much squatting on them
and stealing from the plantations.

The little town of Castries lies dirty, dilapidated, unwholesome,
a long way up the bay on the port hand. This is the bay that
Rodney, as early as 1778, advised should be made a permanent
naval station with dockyard and fortifications, and a town which
would become a metropolis for the other islands. This and St.
George's at Grenada are the only two ports we have yet seen in
the West Indies where steamers can load and unload alongside
the wharves, elsewhere lighters are employed. St. Lucia, he held

106 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

in those days when ships only went by wind, would, from its
position to windward, and its good harbours, render Martinique (the
great French stronghold) and all the other French islands of little
use in war ; while from it every other British island might receive
speedy succour. But nothing was done, neither was his plan for
colonising the island with ten-acre men (white yeomen) listened to,
and so " St. Lucia is hardly to be called a colony, but rather the
nucleus of a colony, which may become hereafter, by energy and good
government, a rich and thickly-peopled garden up to the mountain
tops." There are not wanting signs of prosperity and improvement :
cacao and coolies have been introduced. A great central sugar
usine, like that we saw in Trinidad, insuring the most economical
methods of making sugar, has been established by the local
government. It pays six per cent, on its capital, and has given a
great stimulus to the principal industry of the island. When the
Panama Canal is made St. Lucia will increase in importance as a
coaling station, for it lies directly in the line of commerce between
Enofland and the isthmus, aloncy which much of our Pacific and
Australasian trade will pass. There is a good deal of swell here
in the roadstead, and it has been squally and rainy all day.

Feb. 15th. — At 6.5 A.M., John Cowley, A.B., fell overboard out
of the port fore rigging, striking the chains and breaking both bones
of his left leg. A cutter was lowered, into which he was got with
difficulty and brought on board- on a grating. This is the first
serious accident that has befallen any of our ship's company.
Divine service morning and evening as usual.

Feb. 16th. — In the afternoon the captain went away in the steam
pinnace with a party of twelve of us down along the coast to the
Soufridre, or remains of an old crater now fallen in, 1,000 feet
above the sea, from which any amount of sulphur might be
obtained, the supply being practically inexhaustible, everything
there is encrusted with it. The boiling springs and jets of steam
were rushing up out of the earth in all directions ; these are about
three miles from the shore and 200 feet above the sea ; we boiled
some eggs in a little pool, and one midshipman burned both his feet
rather badly as the crust gave way. We returned at 7 p.m. Others
went away fishing in the stream for the mountain mullet, and with
the same effect as at St. Vincent. There are only about 900 white
inhabitants here, 30,000 negroes, and 2,000 coolies. The exports
of St. Lucia have trebled in thirty years.

The fer de lance, or yellow "rat tail" snake, one of, if not the,

1880. ST. LUCIA. 107

most deadly and venomous snake known, flourishes here and in the
neighbouring French island of Martinique alone, of all the West
Indian islands. Its great enemy is another snake, the cribro, who
swallows his adversary whole.

It abounds in the sugar-cane fields, and lives chiefly on the rats
it there catches; it is, we were told, unsafe to go without the
greatest caution off the beaten track in the sugar fields a yard on
either side. This snake is very prolific, as many as eighty-five
young snakes having been found in one old one. The local govern-
ment four years ago determined to extirpate it and voted to spend
£300 per annum for this purpose, offering a reward of 2s. 6d for
every five heads of the snake produced. They spent £1,200 in
this manner and the death rate from this snake's bite diminished
every year from twenty-two persons, who thus died the first year, to
two who died last year. It was then determined no longer (having
so far reduced them) to offer any reward at all for their heads, so
that the island will still furnish, probably for some time to come, this
interesting specimen of natural history, though it is to be feared the
death rate will again increase from his bites, and the money
already spent might as well, have been thrown into the sea with
our shot and shell the other day.

Feb. 17th. — Mr. Dix (the treasurer of the island) and a few
others came off to lunch. We are waiting for the mail, and it is
dreary work pitching here, the weather showery and miserable.
We receive telegrams all day periodically, as to when she left
Antigua, when she left St. Kitts, and, lastly, when she might
be expected to arrive at St. Lucia, which is at twelve to-night.
The doctor has been anxious about Cowley's leg, as it looks like
mortifying, and has recommended his being taken to the hos-
pital at Barbados. There was no sign of the mail at midnight ;
we had steam up ready for starting by 1 A.M., but no mail came in
till daylight ; and when she did there were no bags for us after all.

ST. LUCIA TO BARBADOS.
Feb. 18th. — At 8.15 A.M. weighed and proceeded under steam
round the north end of the island, looking into Gros Islet Bay, and
at Gros Islet itself — sometimes called Pigeon Rock — behind which
Rodney's fleet, thirty-six sail of the line, lay waiting at anchor, well
to windward of the French at Martinique, while he himself sat on
the top of the rock, day after day, spy-glass in hand, watching for the
signals from his frigates in the ofiing that the French fleet, 34 ships

108 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

of the line, and sixteen frigates, was on the move. The French
were lurking in the Bay of Port Royal at Martinique, twenty- four
miles distant until such time as they could sally forth, give Rodney
the slip, and sail away with fair wind up to St. Domingo, and there
eftect a junction with the Spanish fleet, intending thence with their
united forces, to make a clean sweep of all the colonies from
Barbados to Jamaica — chief source then of England's wealth (the
times are altered now) — and once for all to do for the English.
With fifty ships of the line, and 20,000 land troops, it seemed an
easy matter thus to destroy at once the naval pre-eminence of
Great Britain. But " Quare fremuerunt gentes et populi meditati
sunt inania ? Qui habitat in coelis irridebit eos et Dominus
subsannabit eos. Reges eos in virga ferrea et tanquam vas figuli
confringes eos " (Psalm ii. 1, 4, 9).

As we retraced our way to Barbados with our sick seaman, we
met the trade dead ahead, and there was a good deal of pitching ;
we made, however, a good six knots against it : land remained in
sight until 4 P.M. We sighted Needham Point light at Barbados by
3 A.M. on the morning of the 19th, and at about 6 A.M. stopped, and
came to at our old anchorage in Carlisle Bay. At 10 A.M. Cowley
was landed and sent to the hospital. In the afternoon landed with
the captain, drove up to Government House to call, then across the
Savannah (where all things somehow look so natural, that it seems
much longer than it really is since we were here) and thus out
under the trees, past the garrison, to the hospital which stands, airy
and cool, by the sea-shore. Found the patient in great pain, and
feverish, but plucky and in good spirits, wished him " good-bye,"
then off to the ship : weighed under sail at 6 p.m., and shaped
course north-west for Martinique.

BARBADOS TO MARTINIQUE.

Feb. 20th. — Sailing along steadily all the night, and making a
good six knots an hour. At 8 A.M. we are midway between St.
Lucia and Martinique, where we tacked and retacked. We should
be less than Englishmen, less than men, if we did not feel a thrill
of pride while sailing here.

It was in these waters that Rodney, on the glorious 1 2th of
April, 1782, coming across from behind Pigeon Rock on St. Lucia,
when he heard that the French had at last come out from Port
Royal bay at Martinique to meet their expected reinforcements,
broke Count de Grasse's line (teaching, thereby, Nelson to do the

1880. H.M.S. DIAMOND BOCK. 109

same in like case), took and destroyed seven French ships of the
line, and scattered the rest, preventing the French fleet from joining
the Spaniards at St. Domingo, thus saving Jamaica, Barbados and
the whole West Indies, and brought about, by that single tremendous
blow, the honourable peace of 1783. The battle began at 7 A.M., and
lasted till 6.30 p.m. The loss of the English was 261 killed, and
837 wounded : the French loss was 14,000 taken or killed : and of
these 5,400 were French troops. On what a scene of crippled and
sinking, shattered and triumphant ships, in this very sea, must the
conqueror have looked round from the Formidable' s poop, while the
French admiral was with Rodney in the cabin below, and not as
he had boastfully promised with the English admiral on board his
own Ville de Paris. This ship was the gift of the city of Paris to
Louis XV. She carried 106 guns, and had 1,300 men on board,
when, after being engaged by the English flag- ship, she surrendered.
And it is not yet a hundred years ago since all this was here done.
The air yet even in clearest blaze of sunshine seems full of ghosts
— the ghosts of gallant sailors and soldiers. Truly here

" The spirits of our fathers

Might start from every wave ;
For the deck it wai? their field of fame,
And oceau was their grave — "

start and ask us, their sons : " What have you done with these
islands which we won for you with precious blood ? " And what
could we answer ? We have misused them, neglected them, till, at
the present moment, ashamed of the slavery of the past, and too
ignorant and helpless to govern them as a dependency of an over -
burdened colonial bureau in London, now slavery is gone, we are
half minded to throw them away again, and " give them up " no
matter much to whom. But was it for this that these islands were
taken and retaken, till every gully and every foot of the ocean bed
holds the skeleton of an Englishman ? Was it for this that these
seas were reddened with the blood of our own forefathers year after
year ? Did all those gallant souls go down to Hades in vain, and
leave nothing for the Englishman, but the sad and proud memory
of their useless valour ?

At 10.30 A.M. we are abeam of the Diamond Rock, and get a good
long look at it from the Bacchante s poop. It is an isolated rock,
with its pink and yellow sides shining in the sun, of the shape, but
double the size, of one of the great pyramids, and once a British
sloop of war. For in the end of 1803, Sir Samuel Hood saw that

110 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE, 1880.

French ships passing to Port Royal harbour in Martinique escaped
him by running through the deep channel, three-quarters of a mile
broad, between Diamond Point and that island. It rises sheer
out of the water 600 feet, and is about a mile round, and only ac-
cessible at a point on this, the leeward side, and even then only
when there is no surf. Once landed, you have to creep through
crannies and dangerous steeps round to the windward side (the one
away from us to the east) where the eye is suddenly relieved by a
sloping grove of wild fig-trees clinging to the cracks of the stone.
So, in order to command the passage between this island and Mar-
tinique, Hood laid his ship of seventy-four guns, the Centaur^ close
alongside the Rock ; made a hawser, with a traveller on it, fast to
the ship and to the top of the rock, and in January, 1804, got three
long twenty-four pounders, and two eighteen-pounders, hauled up
far above his mast-head by sailors, who, " as they hung like clusters,
appeared like mice hauling a little sausage." '' Scarcely could we
hear the governor at the top directing them with his trumpet;
the Centaur lying close under." Here Lieutenant James Wilkie
Maurice, with 120 men and boys was established with ammunition,
provisions, and water for four months, and the rock was borne on the
books of the admiralty as H.M.S. Diamond Bock. She commanded
the passage into Martinique with her guns till the 1st June, 1805,
when she had to surrender, after three days' close engagement,
through want of powder, to an overwhelming French squadron of
two seventy-four gun frigates, a corvette, a schooner, and eleven
gun-boats, but only after destroying three gunboats and wounding
forty and killing thirty-one of the enemy, with a loss to herself
of two men killed and one wounded. The whole story is very
natural, and simply life-like in reality, both in the action of the
admiral and of the British seamen, who one and all, no doubt,
thought they were doing nothing very wonderful all the time.

Shortly afterwards, nine miles further on, we passed the entrance
of Fort Royal Bay, for years the rendezvous and stronghold of the
French fleets, from whence Count de Grasse sailed out on that fatal
8th of April, 1782. We saluted the flag of the French rear-admiral
with thirteen guns, and we could just see the smoke of the return
salute he fired from his flag-ship deep up at the end of the bay, though
the distance was too great for any sound to be distinguishable.
We sailed steadily on all the afternoon, though the wind was fall-
ing very light under the high land of the island. Towards
evening, about 5 P.M., we sight H.M.S. Tourmaline steaming up

1880.

MAKTINIQUE.

Ill

astern : she overtakes us and signals that she has our missing mails
for us, and steams up to her anchorage off St. Pierre. We beat
up to ours, and come to in twenty-three fathoms at 8 P.M., close in
shore, not two cables (400 yards) off, under the cliff to the south of
the town. It was then dark, but when we turned in we could hear
the frogs and the crickets piping and chirruping in the bush, and
the gentle surf lapping on the shore off from which came the
warm earth scent of the tropic night. Captain Denistoun came
on board, and brought an agouti and some greenstone and flint
hatchets and arrow-heads as a present from Mrs. Dundas at
St. Vincent. H.M.S. Northampton was lying off the port all the
night.

AT MARTINIQUE.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Feb.

Variable 1-3

22S.

E. 3-2

N.E. 1

Feb. 21s^. — At 8 a.m., saluted the French flag at the main mast
head (for the first and, as it curiously happened, last time in our
commission) with twenty-one guns, the fort returning the salute.
At 10. A.M. H.M S. Tourmaline sailed, and proceeded in company
with the flagship to the northward. Captain Lord Charles Scott
went away in the steam pinnace down to Fort Royal to call on the
French admiral and governor. It was at Fort Royal, in 1794, that
Captain Faulkner, commanding H.M.S. Zebra (only a brig), after
standing a heavy fire of grape from the fort for a considerable time,
to which his puny broadside could offer no effectual return,
suddenly ran the brig alongside and in the most gallant manner
captured the fort by boarding from the main-yard arm.

Martinique was captured by the English, 1762, restored in the
following year, in 1794 recaptured, restored again at the peace of
Amiens, taken again in 1810, and finally restored at the treaty of
Paris. It and Guadeloupe are the two French islands that lie
between and separate the two British groups of the leeward or
northern, and the windward or southern, Antilles.

112 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Some of us landed at 3 p.m. and went to the office of the English
consul, Mr. Lawless, and from there, in two carriages, drove round
the town and up to the Botanic Gardens, through which we walked.
They appear neglected, but have been in their day very fine ;
there is much carved stonework about in the way of balustrades,
and broad flights of steps, and three cascades and basins, but all
now green and moss-grown. The gardens are situated on a tongue
of high ground between two glens, each of which is laid out in
winding walks. In one of these glens is the old grove of giant
palms, beneath which many a duel has been fought ; the bullet
marks are still visible on the tree-stems. We went into the mu-
seum at the gardens, where there is a good collection of preserved
flowers and snakes, fish and stuffed frogs, some of these last a foot
long. There is a specimen of a yellow fer de lance in the act of
being bolted and swallowed by a cribro. His head is lancet-shaped,
flat and very broad. Off to the ship at 5.30 P.M. St. Pierre is a
pretty French town, clean, with water flowing on each side of the
street ; the houses all look neat, the churches are open, the negro
people praying in them, and by the roadside are many Calvaries and
shrines of saints. The whole offers a wonderful contrast to the
British islands. It is said that the French obtained their negro
slaves in olden days from altogether different tribes in Africa to
those which furnished the British slave-holder with his, and that
hence the difference in docility and demeanour between the French
and British negro may partly be accounted for. But the chief
thing that has made the French negro so much better than the
British is that the French proprietors have never ceased to be
resident on, and to take a pride in, their own estates, and therefore
the island presents the appearance it does with its fields well cul-
tivated, its roads in good repair, alongside which are the hawthorn
hedges well trimmed and kept, and the planters' houses, many like
small villas outside Paris, bright with their jalousies and green
shutters. Though the modern Frenchman rarely, if ever, settles
in a colony for any length of time, yet apparently the Frenchman
under the old regime did so, and their descendants reside here
still. About a third of the island is under cultivation. Nevertheless,
according to the French official returns, there are 67,000 acres of
good land lying fallow in Martinique, and 85,000 in their neighbour-
ing island of Guadeloupe. The value of the exports from all the
French colonies throughout the world that go into France is only
£4,000,000 ; to foreign countries they export about half that. The

1880. MARTINIQUE.. 113

imports from foreign countries into the French colonies are over
3,000,000^. a year, from France only 2,000,000/. A French
colony is as much a part of France as any other d^partement ,
and Martinique returns like one of these its member to the
Assembly in Paris. There are 150,000 negroes here, 20,000 whites,
and 16,000 coolies. (Annuaire Statisque de France, 1880.)

Feb. 22nd. — A beautiful morning ; like one at midsummer in
England. From our anchorage watched the negroes, men, women
and children trooping in from the country to the town by the
path which comes down from the woods and then runs along the
beach in front of the cliff close to us. Had the usual Sunday
services to-day under the awnings on the quarter-deck.

Feb. 2Srd. — A party of us lunched with the consul at one, and
then started on ponies for Morne Rouge in the centre of the
island. We rode up over the now dry mountain torrent in the
middle of the town of St. Pierre, and under the shady promenade of
great trees on its bank, where we saw merry-go-rounds and other
toys arranged just as in the Champs Elysees, and so went on up past
the Botanical Gardens and the cultivated grounds outside the town
to a pretty inland village. The cool breath of the trade-wind
from the north-east was blowing in our faces the whole way up.
Went for a few minutes into the new church here, all panelled
with white marble, along which run Latin texts in gold letters ; and
then up to the Calvary behind. The stations of the cross are set
all the way up the hill on either side the path, and the consul's
little boy trotted along with us chattering his simple notions
about La Vierge, son Fits, et le grand Dieu en del. From the
summit there was a most extensive view; away to the north
rose the peak of Morne Pelee 4,400 ft. high ; a cloud or two was
forming on its scarred sides by the cool east trade wind as it drifted
in upon them from the Atlantic, the blue of which is visible far
below on the other side of the island. Stretching right up to the
foot of Morne Pelee were cultivated fields just as in Europe.
(Morne is merely negro patois for Mont.) Away to the south is
the other peak of the island Morne Carbet, very precipitous, but
covered with trees to the top, and down its sides the track of
mountain torrents, made by the recent heavy rains, is still visible,
and all up to its foot stretch the same cultivated fields and park-like
woods. We gathered some beautiful roses in the garden of a house
at which we halted, up on this high land. Rode back to the
town, which we reached at 7.15 p.m. Off at once to the ship.
VOL. 1. I

114 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880

Mountain mullet caught here with fly just the same as at St.
Vincent and St. Lucia.

Feb. 24ith. — Lauded at 7.45 A.M., a small party of six, and met
Consul Lawless on the pier, to which we pulled in, astern of the long
line of French schooners and brigs which are moored alongside
each other to the south of the town. Over these on the right, on
the green hill-side, is distinguishable the white marble monument
of the Empress Josephine, who was born here ; as was also her
first husband, de Beauharnais. Close to the landing-place are the
casks of sugar waiting to be shipped, and along behind them runs
the avenue of trees by the water's edge, as in a European port.
Here we mounted ponies and started down the chief street of St.
Pierre, noticing on either side, aloft in the stone walls of the
houses, the supports and brackets that were used for spreading the
awning the whole length of the street in olden days as in an
eastern bazaar. Then out of the town and along the shore, crossing
more than one mountain torrent, now dry, and under the shade of
trees for the greater part of the way, until w^e arrived, two and
a half miles out, at a large village, where we left the road and
struck up into the hills on the right by a mountain path to the
alkaline baths of the Precheur, under the old extinct volcano
of Morne Pelee. The last half of the ride is up ravines and by
the side of a mountain torrent which runs brawling below, and
every now and then affords abrupt views of red cliffs over which
trail veils of creepers, and then, through broken gaps, of the sea
beyond the woods. At the 4tablissement, which is 500 feet above
the sea, we had a warm natural bath, which you can take either
privately by yourself, where the water comes in jets from the rock
or else in a swimming tank. The water is very dense, though very
clear, and hence there is a difficulty in keeping the limbs under
water. Its temperature is 34° Reaumur, and chloride of sodium
is said to be its main ingredient. Its action is said to be as mild
as that of some sorts of Vichy. We felt enervated rather than
refreshed after dabbling about here for half an hour, and quite
ready for the good lunch which we found laid out in the shade by
the restaurant, at the end of a terrace under some fine trees, with
benches and a statue of the Virgin in the centre. There is a
large wooden building all along one side of this open space,
something between a Swiss cottage and a monastery ; the rooms
in it are let out to families who wish to avail themselves of the
baths, or quiet stay in a healthy, dry and airy retreat. The cost for

1880.

DOMINICA.

115

the day for baths, furnished lodging and board, varies from three
francs and a half to thirteen francs. We met many cripples going
away on crutches ; the place is said to be largely patronised by
French soldiers for various skin diseases, old wounds, fistula and
rheumatic affections. The waters are drunk as well as bathed in.
We started homewards about 2 p.m. and did the five miles back to
the town in an hour and a quarter ; did some shopping, liqueurs
and preserved fruit chiefly, and returned to the ship about 4 P.M.^
and at 5 P.M. weighed under sail, steering towards the north-west.
A charming moonlight night and nearly a calm with only just a
ruffle of wind.

MARTINIQUE TO DOMi::iCA.

Feb. 2oth. — At 4 A.M. were in sight of Dominica four miles
ahead, but as the wind fell light under the hills we did not get in
till 3.30 P.M., when we anchored in thirty-three fathoms off Roseau.
Dominica, or " Sunday Island," was first sighted by Columbus on
that day of the week, November 3rd, 1493, and must not be con-
fused with Dominique, as the French called their half of the
island of Haiti, which to us bears the Spanish name St. Domingo.
In this very roadstead on the 9th April, 1782, Rodney caught up
the French and would have beaten them there and then, had not
a great part of his fleet lain becalmed, as we were, under those
highlands up there in front. From the offing the island appears

AT DOMINICA.

Date.

Wind.

Tempkbaturk.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 pm.

Noon,

6 p.m.

Feb.

N.E. 1

Variable 1

N.W. 1-2

29S.

March

Variable 1

N.W. 3-2

N.E. 1-2

to be very precipitous, though thickly wooded in the interior ; the
landing-place is to the left of where we are anchored. By that

I 2

116 CKUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

we can see one or two stores with wooden verandahs, and the ever-
lasting sugar and molasses. To the right of these stores rise the
towers of the Eoman Catholic cathedral, and behind them comes
the house of the president, close to which is the little domed classic
English church. Sloping down from this last and crossing what
used to be the old market-place, but which is now all overgrown
with grass and weeds, you come out on the edge of the cliff just
opposite our anchorage ; and from this further to the south runs a
long tumbledown street, grass-grown though once paved, and with
the ruined stone foundations of many once respectable houses on
either side. Now, only a few dirty-looking wooden negro huts,
each in its own garden, can be seen here — some built on the founda-
tions of the former houses that were burnt down by the French in
1781, others in the gardens. The apathy that followed the sudden
abolition of slavery in the West Indies, and the consequent
desolations wrought in the name of humanity, not wisely but too
well, still remain. Of course the abolition of slavery was a
righteous thing, and it was done in an heroic manner; it is easy
enough for us to be wise after the event, beholding the conse-
quences that inevitably followed from the manner of the deed ; to
note those consequences is not to question the Tightness of the
deed itself. As it was, the negroes, from being slaves of one kind,
which often was slavery only in name, became slaves in reality,
though free men in name. Emancipated suddenly they had neither
the means, energy nor education, to support themselves; free citizen-
ship did but debase and demoralise them.

[On August 1, 1834 (exactly the 120th anniversary of the
accession of the Hanoverian dynasty to the throne of England),
slaveiy was abolished throughout all that wide area of the earth's
surface over which the British Crown holds sway. The slave trade
between Africa and the West Indies had been previously abolished
in 1807. The emancipation of the West Indian slaves cost Great
Britain twenty millions of money. The time at which that sum
was raised has to be taken into account before we can understand
what a burden it was which the people of this country took upon
their shoulders so readily and enthusiastically ; thereby attesting
the sincerity of the national devotion to the principle of human
liberty and the strict regard paid, by the English people, to the
claims of property, even when that property was human flesh.
They recognised the fact that the Legislature, which had permitted
and sanctioned slavery, was just as much responsible for its exist-

1880. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 117

ence as the individuals who happened to own slaves ; and they paid
honestly for the rights they swept away. The Imperial exchequer
had indeed been receiving, for 200 years, a direct annual payment
in the shape of a 4|- per cent, tax on the produce of the West
Indies. This had amounted to more than a million and a half
pounds in some years, and therefore it might be pleaded that the
British Government merely restored the annual tribute at fourteen
years purchase back to the planters when they decreed the abolition
of slavery. Still 20,000,000/. was a far larger sum fift^y years ago than
it is now. It was more than a third-part of the whole revenue of the
country; now it is much less than a fourth -part. The population
that undertook the burden was smaller and far poorer, and taxed
over its whole area in a way that would astonish the working man if
he had to bear such charges nowadays. Yet there was no shrink-
ing, and no dishonesty : no notion then of making one section of
the community in one of the three kingdoms pay for a beneficent
scheme of State policy. The honour of the country appears to
have been something to it at that time. Comparing that day
with this, do we see no falling off of public spirit in the re-
cognition of great duties, in the readiness to fulfil responsi- v
bilities ? The fact is that the West Indies are, at present, a
glaring example of the terrible penalties following on reckless acts
of inconsiderate sentiment which have been the curse of English
statesmanship in the nineteenth century. Englishmen enfranchised
the West Indian slaves, and paid a not inconsiderable sum as com-
pensation. They took absolutely no account of the fact that the
whole social and economic system of the islands had been built up
on the two pillars of slavery and commercial protective duties,
and that when these were, no doubt very properly, cut away, it
must topple down unless something else was provided. Acting
thus in avowed deference to the rules of morality it was impossible
for Enghshmen to escape a further moral responsibility. Of no
other part of the Queen's dominions can it be said so emphatically
as it can of the West Indies that the ruling country is under
a distinct obligation to it. The temporary prosperity, and the
dense population which is not temporary, were the distinct and
artificial work of England, the results of a long course of deliberate
policy. The depression which has succeeded that prosperity has
been caused by the deliberate acts of English Governments.

There can be no doubt that the decay of the West Indies set in
from the year of emancipation. At that time the plantation

118 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

business was the most flourishing and valuable branch of the
whole British trade. It was naturally thrown out of gear at once.
In the first place, though twenty millions was voted by Parliament
only about eighteen and a half were actually awarded to the
planters for slaves; the value of whom was estimated by the
Government Commissioners at the time of emancipation to
equal at least forty-three millions. During the twelve years
succeeding the emancipation the position of the employers and
employed was completely reversed. The negro, suddenly freed
from all restraint, revelled in the newly-tasted joys of freedom
and worked as little as he pleased, and as a matter of course
the sugar-cane remained uncut, the coffee-berries unpicked, the
plantations weed-grown and untidy. The soil was prolific as ever,
the bare necessaries of life grew with little or no trouble, but
labourers were wanting to garner the abundance it put forth.
Much land went out of cultivation, and what land was still
cultivated left a loss instead of a profit to the proprietors. Their
industry was further crippled by a steady fall in the price of sugar
in the home markets owing to the rapid improvement in facilities
of communication. Still the West Indian planter persevered and
struggled on : and protected as he was against competition with
slave-grown produce matters gradually improved.

In 1846, however, another blow fell upon the West Indies. The
Corn Laws had just been abolished, and the English nation was en-
thusiastic for free trade in all directions. The Sugar Act of that
year did away with the protective duties on foreign imported sugar ;
it admitted slave-grown sugar from Cuba and Brazil to the English
market on the same terms as that manufactured by free labour.
The price of West Indian muscovado was reduced from 40/. to 201.
per hogshead to the English consumer ; he was therefore benefited.
So far, so good of course ; but with what practical results ? The
cultivation of slave-grown sugar was enormously stimulated ; so
much so that 1846 more than undid for the negro what 1834 had
accomplished. The horrors of slavery were inflicted upon thousands
who would otherwise have been free, and an amount of misery was
caused to a large portion of the human race which can hardly be
over-estimated. In order to give Englishmen cheap sugar the
slave trade was revived. From 1840 to 1845 only 32,000 slaves
were imported into Brazil ; in 1846 and 1847 no less than 110,000
were imported. In Cuba, previously to 1846 the importation of

1880. . IMPETUS TO SLAVE TRADE. 119

slaves had practically died out ; for a number of years after 1846
slaves were introduced into Cuba from Africa, often over 40,000 a
year, and as late as 1861 the slave trade was still on the increase.
In that year it was admitted in Parliament that three Africans
were torn from their homes and enslaved for every one landed,
owing to the deaths and suicides in the middle passage. Over-
crowding of slaves on board slavers, and other horrors connected
with running the cargoes across the Atlantic, were also aggravated
rather than suppressed by the British squadron now kept on the
coast of Africa for that purpose. The cost of that squadron yearly
to the British sugar consumer was considerably more than he had
gained on his cheapened sugar, grown by the hands of those very
blacks whose importation into Cuba and Brazil he had thoughtlessly
and illogically stimulated.

The Act of 1846 was framed on principles which appeared in
theory unassailable ; but when put in practice it produced disastrous
results which must not be ignored. Cuban and Brazilian planters
made enormous fortunes, their crops rapidly increased; and all this
time misery and ruin were pressing on our own colonies. Within two
years after 1846 fifty large houses connected with the West Indies
had failed with liabilities exceeding 6,000,000/. Mr. Gladstone
had almost foreseen the result of the Acts of 1846, and had expressed
his strong disapproval of the policy those measures inaugurated ;
so also had Lord Palmerston. With reference to the theoretical
argument that " a free labourer will work better than a slave,"
and that therefore his services are so much more vakiable. Lord
Derby described it with reference to the West Indian . industry
as " a cruel mockery." '* The African has no desire to better
his condition by the sweat of his brow ; he is quite content
to earn sufficient to satisfy his few and simple wants, and never
thinks of amassing money by the fruits of honest industry. It
is therefore idle to pretend that the labour of this man is of equal
value with the involuntary toil of the Cuban slave. The difference
between the two is simply this, that the free labourer will never
work more than sheer necessity compels him, whereas the slave is
obliged to work to the extreme limit of human endurance." As
the West Indian planter found himself face to face with these
difficulties^the difficulty of cultivating his estate at a remunerative
cost owing to the disinclination of the negro to work and owing to
the competition he had to meet from the slave employer — he
naturally in many cases gave up the contest ; in others he struggled

120 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

on. The more a proprietor got into debt in the endeavour to tide
over what was supposed to be a temporary depression, the less able
was he to cultivate his estate ; and the more the estates went out
of cultivation the more opportunity was there for the reversion
by the negro race to that half savage life of freedom — ill-fed and
comfortless, but idle and therefore congenial to him — which the
negro's soul loves. Such evils have since tended to increase, as
all evils do.

However, crushed and ruined as the planters in our sugar pro-
ducing colonies were, they did not all give themselves up to despair.
Englishmen do not know when they are beaten, and the indomita-
ble energy shown by the planters is no bad example of this virtue
of our race. Once more they put their shoulders to the wheel and
by slow degrees succeeded in improving their condition. At last
in 1868, the slave trade in Cuba was put down. The insurrection
followed ; and as regards Cuba, the West Indies found themselves
able to compete successfully.

No sooner, however, was the advantage which the slave trade

gave to Cuba removed than the planters found themselves assailed

by another rival — the beet-sugar producer of Europe. But as now

we are getting upon debateable ground, and the question is still

one of controversy, we will merely give the arguments adduced on

either side. It is affirmed that the present crisis in the sugar

trade (1884), which is alleged to be bringing the planting industry

in the West Indies to ruin, has been mainly brought about by the

bounty-fed production of beet-root sugar on the Continent, and

that if the bounty system in Germany, France, and other continental

counties, be left unchecked, the cultivation of sugar in the West

Indies will collapse, while at the same time the artisans employed

in the manufacture of sugar at home will be driven out of the field

by an unjustly favoured foreign competition. The Board of Trade

contends on the other hand, " that prices are not affected in any great

measure by the giving of bounties in some countries, but rather by

the enormous expansion of its production. Sugar has not fallen in

price more than other articles, notably wheat, rice, tea. The

maximum amount of sugar receiving a bounty on refining is only

about 270,000 tons against an annual total of 3,000,000 tons

refined. In spite of low prices, the production of sugar in every

part of the world is increasing, and is not confined to the bounty

fed beet-root sugar. The production of cane-sugar in the West

Indies themselves and Guiana, in 1880-2, exceeded by 10 per cent.

1880. SUGAR BOUNTIES. 1^

the production in 1877-9. In 1883 the West Indian production
was 295,000 tons : the annual average five or six years earlier was
2G0,000 tons. And though the home consumption of British cane-
sugar has declined, yet the difference is far more than made up
to the West Indies by the demand developed in the United States
and Canada."

Granted for a moment, however, that the bounty-fed sugar is
undermining the West Indian trade with England, what is the
remedy asked for ? The West Indian planters ask that all sugar
that has received bounty from a foreign Government on export
should be subject to a countervailing duty on coming into England
equal in amount to the bounty, so that they might compete together
on equal terms in the home market. The arguments in favour of
such a policy are plausible, and were adopted by the majority
(fifteen out of seventeen) of the Select Committee of the House
of Commons which inquired into the subject in 1880. The Board
of Trade, however, has steadily combated the proposition, both on
practical and theoretical grounds.

The English people in 1883 consumed over 1,000,000 tons of
sugar, over 68 lbs. per head of the population; its cost, 30,000,000/.
sterling, is about half the amount spent on bread. According to
the estimate made by the West Indian planters themselves the
reduction of price due to bounties is about hi. per ton, which is
a gain of 5,000,000/. sterling annually to the people of the United
Kingdom. Would it be right under any circumstances to ask the
consumers in the United Kingdom to forego cheap sugar in order
to encourage an industry with which their connection is so
indirect ? Ought the 85,000,000 white men in these islands to be
taxed for the benefit of the 1,500,000 negroes in the West Indies ?

To this, the opposite side reply : " Your satisfaction in the
present cheapening of your sugar is as shortsighted in 1884 as it
was in 1846. Look at the consequences. We admit that bounties
are ridiculous. Mr. John Stuart Mill classes in one category as
producing unsound artificial cheapness * stolen goods, smuggled
goods, slave-grown produce, and bounty-aided manufactures.' We
admit the teaching of Adam Smith : ' The effect of bounties can
only be to force the trade into a channel much less advantageous
than that in which it would naturally run of its own accord.'
And that of Jeremy Bentham : ' The giving of bounties on ex-
portation is an ingenious pretence for inducing a foreign nation to
receive tribute from you without being aware of it — a little like

122 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

that of the Irishman who passed his light guinea by slipping it in
between two half-pence.' It is quite true that at present Germany
and France think fit to make a present to foreign purchasers of
perhaps an ounce in every pound of sugar ; and that the operation
of the bounty has necessarily been that the continental population
is heavily taxed for a purpose in which only their sugar-growers and
sugar-refiners, whether employers or workmen, have the smallest
interest ; that English consumers obtain refined sugar at a price
which is sometimes below the cost of production, and that the
whole arrangement might have been devised as a caricature of
the policy of Protection. But do you imagine it possible that
the subjects of foreign Governments do not understand the reason
that they are paying considerably increased taxes for the purpose
of supplying England with cheap sugar ? They are making sugar
artificially cheap now in order to make it artificially dear by and
by. The so called payment by Germany of a tribute to England
is willingly endured because it is looked upon in the nature of a
tax by means of which the war of competition is being carried on.
The German sugar manufacturer can afford to sell his sugar in
England below cost price since the difference is made up to him
by his Government. When the German Government have obtained
their triumph over their rival, then, the nation will recoup itself.
Their policy is nothing more nor less than that which is well known
to our own English manufacturers, several firms of whom have
what is called their ' fighting capital,' a reserve fund which they
draw upon when they undersell their rivals at a temporary loss in
order to drive them from the market, and after thus ridding them-
selves of competition command their own prices. The self-satisfied
argument that the English should be thankful to the Germans for
this present of cheap sugar would be all very well on the childish
supposition that the German Government were ^giving it to us out
of sheer benevolence or pure stupidity, and that these low prices
would last after the British workmen are starved out and British
competition disposed of. When the British grown cane-sugar has
been extinguished — (and the increase in the amount produced that
you point to with such satisfaction is due only to excessive com-
petition, and cannot be kept up indefinitely) — then the cost of the
beet-sugar will be raised ; and our industry having been put to death
you will suffer and be entirely dependent on foreigners for your
supply. Having driven cane-sugar out of the market, and
thrown a large number of plantations out of cultivation, they will

1880. SUGAR BOUNTIES. 123

then be able to charge what prices they like. Englishmen have
millions of money invested in machinery and agricultural plant
in the West Indies ; if sugar fails them there is nothing else
to which they can turn, their ruin would be utter, and when the
industry is once slain it could not be revived again. Remember
also (the argument runs) that nearly all that goes to make a ton of
British cane-sugar is the direct outcome of home labour in the
foim of sugar machinery, artificial manures, copper-pans, coal,
&c. In Derby, for instance, where large sugar machinery works are
located, so serious a decline in orders for sugar machinery from the
West Indies has been experienced as to throw many hundreds of
skilled mechanics out of work. Your mercantile marine suffers too by
the diversion of the sugar trade. If the British Government were
to place a countervailing duty of 2s. M. per cwt. against German
sugar, then as Great Britain is the chief market, the export of the
whole German sugar industry would receive a severe check and it
would be the means of abolishing the bounty system and bringing
about a general reduction of the German tariff, and practically
conduce more to free trade than a doctrinaire clinging to its
principles."

The impression left in the minds of the working men's
delegations to Germany was that the majority of the German
people are against the continuation of the bounty system, though
the landholders and the people interested in the trade in the
agricultural centres of industry are favourable to a continuation
and even an extension of the system ; whereby they are enabled
to sell their sugar even below cost price in the English and other
markets. This year's crop of beet sugar in Germany is estimated
at 1,200,000 tons ; of this enormous outturn only 400,000 tons
are required for their home consumption. It results therefore
that 800,000 tons will be exported from Germany at a cost to that
country for drawback in the shape of bounty of nearly 2,000,000/.
sterling. They will flood the English market, and at this rate
not only give you a present of 5,000,000/. but of 11,000,000/. on
your annual consumption. This will almost put the" finishing
stroke to the competition, by still further driving down the price
of British cane sugar. Besides, urge the planters, the assertion
that the principles of free trade will not admit of the British
Government levying a countervailing duty is not borne out by
facts. Formerly English spirits paid 10s., colonial rum 10s. 2d.,
and foreign spirits 10s. 5d. per proof gallon duty. In 1884 the

124 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

duty on colonial rum has been raised to 10s. ^d. thus giving a
further protection to the home distiller, who continues to pay 10s.,
while the duty on foreign spirits has been lowered to 10s M. to
the benefit of the beet-root and potato spirit. No more flagrant
case of protection to home industries and of the promotion
of foreign adulteration to the injury of ourselves could be
imagined.

To which the reply is, " The excessive cheapness of sugar, how-
ever caused, while it lasts is a benefit to the consumer. No
Government in England dare propose a duty upon sugar imported
from abroad. Sugar lias now become a necessary of life, and if
this countervailing import duty were laid upon it there would be an
outcry that the widow and orphan, the starving needlewoman, and
the struggling fathers of families, were taxed for the benefit of a
few capitalists in a small trade Nor is it only the consumers who
would oppose a countervailing duty. Sugar is employed as a raw
material now in many manufactories — in brewing, biscuit-baking,
mineral-water-distilling, jam and confectionary. All these employ
several thousands of labourers who benefit by this cheapness, and
who would oppose the duty as bitterly as the consumer. It is no
use trying to persuade the British Government to adopt retaliative
measures. The only chance for the sugar industry lies in the hope
that the bounty-giving countries will so undersell each other in
their competition that they will be forced to return to legitimate
trading. Already they are crying out that the evil day is upon
them, and failures are getting to be very plentiful, notwithstanding
the artificial help afforded by Government."

** The Board of Trade retain the conviction that the bounty
system will break down, and are satisfied that on the whole during
the last few years it has become weaker and not stronger. The
embarrassment to all the countries who try it is obvious. France,
which initiated the system, has had to reduce the bounties so con-
siderably that in 1880 they were substantially abandoned. Austria,
which a few years ago outstripped France, and even was flooding
France with its sugar, has also had to cut down the bounties, if not
to abolish them altogether. Germany is the only country which
now gives bounties large enough to derange the trade. The
German Government has shown itself dissatisfied with the system
by partially reducing the bounty. Legislation to get rid of them
seems probable enough in Germany before long. The free-traders
of Germany are most earnest and vigorous in their efforts to put

1880. WEST INDIES AND CANADA. 125

down the bounty system. They regard it as different from any
tariff system ; and while they have not attempted since 1879 to
interfere with the tariff system, not a week passes that there do
not appear in the Liberal journals strong articles against the bounty
system. The system has led to immense over-production. Another
result of the bounties has been to withdraw from the cultivation
of cereals much land necessary to be devoted to the growing of
wheat. Besides which few crops exhaust the soil more than
continuous beet-growing. Each country must find out before long
the serious character of the evils they are inflicting on themselves.
No foreign Government has a large surplus to sacrifice for the sake
of giving cheap commodities to neighbouring peoples."

Since the receipt of this official memorandum, many West Indians,
gravely disheartened at the low prices, and not less incensed at
what appeared to them the inaction of the Home Government, have
taken up the idea of joining the Canadian Dominion. With a total
annual value of exports approaching ten millions, more than four-
fifths of which is sugar, it was a life and death matter with them.
They urged that they could not wait in philosophic manner
for the gradual working out of the results of that economic law
theoretically expected by the Board of Trade. By joining the
Dominion of Canada as Provinces they would hope to obtain
a protected market for their sugar, and to give in return a
protected market for her manufactures of all sorts. Canada
grows and manufactures everything that the West Indian Islands
require. Flour, meal, pork, fish, are the staple foods imported
into the West Indies. Where better than from Canada could
these be procured ? It is true that the Canadian Dominion in-
cludes at present only 5,000,000 inhabitants ; and that they con-
sume about 70,000 tons of sugar in the year, 80,000 tons of which
already come from the West Indies ; and that the total amount of
sugar at present produced in the West Indies is 400,000 tons, more
than five times the amount Canada requires : but if the West
Indies were tropical Provinces of the Dominion the requirements
of sugar for other manufactories to be carried on in the Dominion
would be probably greatly enlarged. There are already five sugar
refineries in Canada employing directly 3,500 persons, and in-
directly 30,000. Beet-sugar making has been tried in the province
of Quebec and found a failure ; whence so well as from the West
Indies could raw sugar be obtained ? With the development given

126 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

to the various manufactures that employ sugar now, brewing, &c.,
the total output of the West Indies and British Guiana, even if
doubled in a few years, will find sufficient market in the Dominion.

To this it is replied, "that there are difficulties connected with
finance, such as the taking over by Canada of the public debts of
the West Indian colonies. The money so borrowed was advanced
in some cases under the direct guarantee of the Home Govern-
ment. Would the Canadian Dominion assume such responsibility
or the British Government allow it ? Another financial problem
is the Revenue question. The whole system of raising revenue
would be assimilated to that of the Dominion, and foremost among
the fiscal changes would be the adoption of the severe customs
tariff at present in force in the Dominion. In most of the West
Indian colonies, and especially in tlie smaller islands, and in those
in the neighbourhood of French settlements, it has been found
that in practice high customs duties fail altogether, because of the
impossibility of preventing smuggling on an extensive scale. The
adoption of the Canadian tariff would mean a very considerable in-
crease in the expenditure on customs establishments in the West
Indies. It is true that Canadian manufacturers might hope to secure
monopoly of the West Indian market; but judging from the steady
increase of the imports of English manufactures into Canada itself,
there seems little reason to suppose that the same tariff applied to
the West Indies will keep out English manufactures from those
islands. There is, for instance, the great item of sugar-making
machinery and plant, which it is essential to have as cheap and as
good as possible. The difference the tariff would make would be that
the West Indian colonists would have to pay much more than they
now do for the same article. The only sure way to encourage a
great and free interchange of commodities — of West Indian raw
sugar on the one hand, and Canadian lumber and flour and salt
fish on the other — is by a mutual reduction or abolition of customs
duties. This would give Canada and the West Indies all they
could gain by closer union, and yet not involve either in the
losses and disadvantages, the risks and expenses, incident to political
incorporation."

The West Indian rejoins that " the Home Government has given
Canada power to negotiate such reciprocity custom arrangements :
but that they have not such power ; and that unless they were able
to offer the Canadian protectionists some equivalent for the pro-
posed admission of their sugar duty free into the Dominion, so as

1880. WEST INDIES AND THE UNITED STATES. 127

to secure them a protected market in the West Indies, there is no
prospect of any such mutual interchange as suggested. Give then
to the West Indian colonies the same power of framing commercial
treaties as you have given to your other colonies : or if you will
not, at any rate negotiate a reciprocal commercial agreement
between the United States and the West Indies, by which they
would admit raw sugar from the West Indies duty free at nominal
rates in consideration of a reduction by the West Indian Govern-
ment of the import duties on such American produce as bread
stuffs, salt-fish, and timber. Spain has carried through in four
months (a standing criticism on the inaction of the English
Government), a convention with the United States, whereby her
colonies in America, the West Indies, Cuba, and Porto Rico, may
import into the States all raw sugar and tobacco duty free, and other
products at reduced duties : while the Cuba and Porto Rico tariffs
are to be modified so as to admit American flour on the same
footing as Spanish. The result of this convention will be, that
unless Great Britain obtains for us, or allows us to obtain,
similar terms for the British West Indies, our sugar will now
be entirely excluded from the American market. This question is
one of the utmost importance to the West Indies. Their total
exports of tropical produce has nearly trebled during the last
thirty years, and nearly the whole of this increased output has
been absorbed by the markets of the United States and Canada.
While the importation of sugar from the West Indian colonies
into the United Kingdom has fallen off to at least a third of
what it was, during the last few years through the importation
of cheaper bounty-fed beet-root sugar from the Continent; the
large market for their sugar in the United States has been their
great mainstay, where 50,000,000 of people consume 1,200,000
tons of sugar annually. And this market even is now about to be
closed to the West Indies by the inaction of the British Govern-
ment. The United States has already by reciprocity treaties
granted special facilities for the entrance of sugar from the
Sandwich Islands, Mexico, Cuba and Porto Rico, whereby it is no
longer to be weighted with the additional import duty. At present,
sugar of the lowest> class, the rawest of the raw, has to pay an
import duty of SI. per ton, with 25 per cent, ad valorem, which at
present prices is in all about 105 per cent, ad valorem. Four-fifths
of the sugar imported now pays this high duty : in future Cuba
and Porto Rico are to be freed from it, but not the British West

128 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Indies. Live fish imported from the United States to Cuba are to
pay no duty on entrance, and all tonnage dues on Spanish vessels
leaving United States ports for Cuba are to be remitted : and the
United States will remove the 10 per cent, valorem duty on imports
from Cuba and Porto Rico into the United States. The West
Indian Committee therefore urge the Home Government to obtain
the inclusion of the West Indian colonies in the most favoured
nation clause of the treaty : or to allow the legislatures of these
colonies to enter into reciprocal commercial relations with the
United States under the terms of a treaty between Great Britain
and the United States similar to that negotiated between that
country and Spain." The reply to which is, "Her Majesty's
Government would be very glad if it were possible, to obtain the
extension of the most favoured nation clause to British colonies,
but there is no present prospect of negotiation for that purpose
leading to any result. Her Majesty's Government is not prepared
to allow West Indian colonies to enter into reciprocal commercial
arrano:ements with the United States." And so in Feb. 1884 it
was resolved by the West Indian Committee, " that they regard
with deep concern and regret the statement that Her Majesty's
Government are unable themselves to secure, and prohibit Her
Majesty's colonial legislatures from attempting to secure, for the
trade between the British West Indies and the United States
equal concessions and advantages to those readily obtained by the
Spanish Government in favour of the Spanish West Indies, and
this Committee believe that this restriction of the Government
upon all attempts by the colonies to secure a free development of
the West Indian and American trade, will occasion great dis-
appointment in the West Indian colonies." It has done so ; and
now there is an ever-increasing party within the West Indian
colonies, who, rightly or wrongly, reason that — as the British
Government say in effect ' Perish the colonies so long as people
in England caa obtain, for however short a time, and no matter
by what means, sugar at an unnaturally cheap price,' — and as there
is already a real identity of interest between the United States
and these colonies, since they obtain from the States their food
supplies, and the main necessaries of life — and as, driven from the
markets of Europe, the States offer us an unlimited market for
our produce, with the result of a very considerable enhancement
in the value of our properties — why should not the West Indian
colonies seek admission to the States ? Of the large colonial family

1880. DOMINICA. 129

of Great Britain we form a small, and in your eyes, insignificant
member. Loyally for years we have fought the fight of competition
with slave-grown produce imposed on us by imperial policy, and
after a fashion we have held our own. A new and more serious
calamity, the foreign bounty system, threatens us with extinction.
Practically you say you can do nothing to help us, though with us
it is a matter of life and death. Loose us, and let us go."

To which Lord Derby's official reply is, "Undoubtedly the
United States are a more natural market for the West Indian
colonies than Europe ; but Great Britain is not prepared to make
special arrangements between the United States and the West
Indies. The Government admit that the position of the West
Indies is one of such great difficulty that the Government should
not stick at trifles with a view to help and relieve them : and of
course the day is gone by when Great Britain would seek to retain
any colony who desired to claim independence, or transfer its
allegiance to another power."

And there we must leave the controversy. What the next step
will be remains to be seen. Meanwhile it is well to bear in mind,
that the Select Committee of the House of Commons on sugar
industries in 1880 reported : " That a countervailing duty is not in
any sense of the term, protection. That in 1864, the recognition
of the principle of a countervailing duty was accepted by the
Government of the day without protest." " On the question of
principle we see no objection to the imposition of a duty to coun-
tervail a bounty, and (after hearing evidence from Custom House
officials) in the practicability of levying it, no insurmountable
difficulties. The chances are that if a duty was placed upon refined
sugar imported from countries which pay a bounty to the refiner,
it would in a very short space of time break down the whole bounty
system — a system deliberately intended to crush the British
producer of refined sugar."]

Feb. 26th. — A small party of us landed at 7.30 A.M. and walked
up to the President's (Mr. Eldridge), and rode with him through the
town of Roseau and down the long deserted street on the south of the
market-place ; at the end we turned sharp to the left^ and so struck the
remains of the old road, which is cut here sheer in the cliff's side.
We wound thus up and up until at the top of the hill we came to
Eggleston, the ruins of an old house, in the midst of what was once
a garden but now is a wilderness, where many roses were still trailing
about, and whence there was a fine view over the centre of the island.

VOL. I. K

130 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

In size Doaiinica is about as large as the Isle of Man, or half as large
again as Barbados, but its character is totally different. At present
the greater portion of the island is in an unreclaimed and wild
condition ; not more than a fifth of the available land is under cul-
tivation. Sugar, cacao, spices, fruit, grow prolitically in valleys
which are for the most part near the coast but isolated from one
another by densely wooded tracts of country. The forests contain
much valuable timber ; and there are several extensive level and
fertile tracts which, when cleared, would become valuable for
agricultural purposes, and are well suited for large sugar factories.
But before this can be done some sort of immigration is absolutely
necessary. The bad cultivation of all the present estates is due to
the unsteadiness of the negro labour supply. The mountains
bordering the sea round the whole island were at one time covered
with plantations of coffee, of which from two to five million lbs. per
year used to be raised. But about thirty years ago there appeared on
the trees a blight which has completely ruined these properties ;
not much more coffee is now produced than suffices for consumption
by the inhabitants. The cultivation is, however now at last
reviving. In no island more than Dominica is the contrast of what
it must once have been with what it is now, more clear. In all direc-
tions inland run these roads, cut in the mountain side with much
labour, and of more than sufficient breadth for wheeled vehicles to
pass ; no wheeled cart even exists in the island now, and we passed
along miles of these roads overgrown with jungle and creepers,
and with just a path for one negro or one pony. It is on the heads
of negroes that most of the traffic is carried now from one part of
the island to another. Good roads are the greatest want of
Dominica. In olden days a very simple and to the public inexpensive
procedure existed for their up-keep. There was a road leading to
every plantation, and each proprietor of land was bound to maintain
it from one end of his estiite to the other. The roads have to be
carried over a country which is usually mountainous, rocky or thickly
wooded, and when they follow the bottom of the valleys they are
liable also to be swept by the heavy floods and mountain torrents ;
so that it is more expensive to keep up a road in Dominica than in
any other West Indian island. On the hills, in more than one place,
we came across the ruins of other planters' houses in fine positions
similar to Eggleston. We are glad to hear that the cacao cultivation
is flourishing here as in Grenada. The cacao exports have rapidly
increased to about three-quarter-million lbs. a year ; land can be

1880. DOMINICA- BADINOCH. 131

purchased at about 20s. an acre, in lots of not less than forty acres.
The cacao fetches 37s. Qd. per lb., and most small proprietors raise
more than 100 lbs. Most of the estates on which it is grown in
this island are small, consisting of not more than fifty or sixty
acres, and many of these are in the hands of negro proprietors.
Much Crown land that might be cultivated still remains untouched.
We worked round the hill towards the south until we came upon a
lovely little residence, in a valley opening to the sea, called Badinoch,
which Sir Henry Irving, when he was governor of Antigua, intended
to make his summer residence. The house is one-storied, entirely
of wood, with deep verandahs all round it that open into a garden,
which forms a platform over the valley below. Two valleys here
intersect, in each there is a stream of water — which never fails to run
the whole year through — brawling over its stony bed. Down to
these from the house through the wood run many paths zig-zagging
here and there on the hill-side, and everywhere about there are many
specimens of curious flowers and shrubs, which the former occupant
had acclimatised. Towering above the house rise the old cocoa-
nut palms, up one of which an old negro, left in charge of the now
deserted house, climbed, and tumbled us down some green nuts for
a morning draught. In front of the house is a piece of green
sward surrounded with bread-fruit trees and glossy-leaved shrubs
resembling camelias. A little hill rises to the west of this, covered
with larger trees, on the top of which used to stand a summer-house
looking out to sea. We rode back to the town, along the shore, a
twenty minutes' ride, and then up the old tumble-down street and
across the little cricket green, in the centre of the town, and then
down through another street, on either side of which were gardens
full of flowers and trees, each group round its villa, most of which,
though pretty, sadly wanted repair, and so up to the Eoman Catholic
Cathedral, which has a fine stone front built in the Italian style.
The three bells were clanging for service. Into it we went, and
found two or three pleasant French priests ; more Irish priests are
coming to the island instead of French, and an Irishman has just
been appointed as the new Bishop. More than nine-tenths of the
negroes in the island are Roman Catholics. There are a few
Wesleyans, and one congregation only of the Church of England.
According to the last report of the Inspector of Schools for the
Leeward Islands — (Mr. Drinkwater, who is here now and was on
board this morning) — the state of education in the island, though
very bad is improving ; not more than six per cent, of the popu-

K 2

132 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

lation can read or write. There are numbers of children in the
inland districts growing up in idleness and ignorance, the parents
of every vice. Their fathers and mothers have found the
temptation of squatting on the abandoned coffee plantations and
Crown lands irresistible, and in woods free from any poisonous
reptile, filled with mountain cabbage trees and wild yams, and
abounding with wild animals and birds suitable for food. In the
neighbouring Danish Islands there is a compulsory free education,
and training in field labour at certain hours, but either of these
would be difficult to carry out in Dominica, as roads across the
mountains are so bad.

After leaving the cathedral we came off to the ship in time for
breakfast-lunch. Some of the officers went fishing in the mountain
streams and had very good sport, taking chiefly mullet, similar to
those which they had before caught when fishing in the mountain
streams of Martinique.

Feb. 27th. — Capital bathing from the ship's side in the morning.
After school finished our letters for the mail, which left early in the
afternoon, but required the letters an hour before starting.

Before we left Denmark, last September, Admiral Irminger told
us that he thought we should find Dominica the fairest of all the
West Indian islands, and his words were true. True also did we find
those of Mr. Kingsley, telling of the size, and the endless variety of
form and colour of its vegetation, which is " of every conceivable
green, or rather of hues ranging from pale yellow through all
greens into cobalt blue ; and as the wind stirs the leaves and
sweeps the lights and shadows over hill and glen, all is ever-
changing, iridescent, like a peacock's neck ; till the whole island
from peak to shore seems some glorious jewel — an emerald with
tints of sapphire and topaz, hanging between blue sea and white
surf below, and blue sky and white cloud above." — At Last, p. 42.
And so too we found those of Mr. Tennyson :

" The mountain wooded to the peak, the lawns
And winding glades high up like ways to Heaven,
The slender coco's drooping crown of plumes.
The lightning flash of insect and of bird,
The lustre of the long convolvuluses
That coiled around the stately stems, and ran
Even to the limit of the land, the glows
And glories of the broad belt of the world —
All these we saw, ... and heard
The league-long roller thundering on the reef,
The moving whisper of huge trees that branch'd
And blossom'd in the zenith, or the sweep
Of some precipitous rivulet to the wave.' — Enoch Ardfin.

1880. DOMINICA— SCENE OF ERUPTION. 133

Feh. 28^A. — At 4 A.M. left the ship by moon and starlight, landed
and found our way up to the President's, where Doctor Nicholls met
us and pioneered us on ponies up the Laudat valley, beside its
roaring stream. As the valley runs nearly due east we had what
little wind there was in our faces before the day dawned right ahead.
Reached Laudat about 8 A.M. The road to this place is just such
another as we saw the other morniDg, a mere bridle path on what
was once a broad carriage road cut in the cliff-side, but now
overgrown. We had breakfast in a negro hut which stands on
the edge of the flat table- land of this village ; the bread and
coffee other negroes had carried up for us on their heads
from Roseau. Then started again, and this time along a much
rougher path that led straight through the jungle to Ajoupa,
where, in the bed of the stream, a hut had been made of bamboos
and green boughs. Here we left the ponies and clambered on for
another hour and a half, up through a tangle of forest and jungle,
and over ledges of rock and cliff to the summit and highest point
in the island, Morne Diablotin, 5,314 feet high, nearly a thousand
feet higher than the highest point in Great Britain, Ben Nevis. On
one side we looked down over the country as on an outspread map.
Mountains stretch away beyond mountains covered with the luxuriant
vegetation of the tropics, and with their sides brilliantly lighted up
by the rays of the sun, in strong contrast with the dark masses of
shadow thrown on the deep ravines beyond. These valleys and
ravines are all covered with extensive forests of valuable timber
trees ; we hear there are nearly 200 sorts in Dominica. Amongst
these is the locust-tree (which resembles mahogany but is much
harder) ; the yellow satinwood ; the mastic (often six feet in diameter
and one of the most valuable) ; the cedar ; the coccalaba (which
becomes hardened by age so that tools can scarcely work it) ; black
and white ironwood ; and the gommier, the largest and loftiest tree
the island produces— nearly all the canoes in Dominica are made
of this wood, the white resin that exudes from its trunk is much
used for torches, and in the Catholic churches as incense. Of all
these the growth is hurried on with extraordinary rapidity by the
heat and light, and continual supply of moisture — (the rainfall here
is seventy-two inches in the year) — but decay is equally rapid.
The destructive process that is in operation goes on with an energy
and activity unknown in temperate climates. Nature, in these
islands assumes her most terrible as well as her most beautiful
forms, for what visitations can be more appaUing than the hurricane,

134 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

the earthquake, and the volcanic eruptions, whose continual attacks
leave only desolation and ruin behind. The trees of tlie woods
for the last half mile had been thickly covered with ash
and cinders and grey powdered mud, until on arriving at
the edge of the ledge we found them all bleached white. We
looked out over and down into the great basin, seven square
miles in extent, which was fringed with nothing but bleached
stumps and bare boughs of trees. In several places we saw
the smoke still curling up from the spot where the boiling lake
had been, whose waters had been ejected by the late eruption and
had wrought all this terrible destruction. Evidently the sides of
the hill have, since the eruption two months ago, slid down and
blocked up the lake. Here there was more smoke curling up from
the sulphur springs to which we clambered down over what seemed
like white marl, and found the temperature of the water 212°.
It was very hot indeed climbing back again in the noonday sun
up these bare white and muddy cliffs. On arriving at the top we
sat down on the ledge a while, and chatted with our negro guides,
and then went down into the woods again to the hut at Ajoupa ;
where we were very glad to rest and get some cool lime-drinks. We
afterwards trotted back to town. The same afternoon another party
rode out with the President to the sulphur springs, on the west
side of the island. During the late eruption the whole sky was
darkened as by a cloud, and the paople on coming out of church
found all the houses and gardens in Roseau covered for a couple
of inches with the thick grey dust that was showered upon them.
This afternoon a sloop went ashore to the north of the town ; the
captain ssnt a party away, with the first lieutenant, to try and
get her off, but the party returned that evening without succeeding.

Feb. 29th. — A quiet day on board. Roman Catholics to early
mass ashore, and our own services as usual.

March \st. — Port-watch again away, and before the dinner-hour
had succeeded in getting the sloop afloat. In the afternoon the
ship's company had a cricket match on the green, ashore, starboard-
versus port-watch. Each side had two innings, but the match
ended in a draw. In the president's garden there is a capital
lawn-tennis ground, a level piece of grass under palms and mango
trees, and of this, during our stay, the ofiScers of the ship have
made free use. The President came off and dined in the evening.

[The Leeward, or Northern group of the Antilles, consists of the
five presidencies of Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis with St. Kitts,

1880. THE FEDERATED LEEWARD ISLANDS. 135

Antigua, and the Virgin Islands. These were formed into one
Federal colony in 1871, under one Governor, who resides at Antigua,
the most important, though Dominica is the largest, of the group.
They had previously all been united under a common legislature
as far back as the reign of William and Mary, but the union was
dissolved in 1798. In 1832, Sir William Colebrook attempted to
revive it. The present federation is merely a restoration of the old
system of Government, with this exception, that under the first the
members of the Federal Council were elected directly by the rate-
payers, whereas now they are merely delegates from the several
local legislatures. The five presidencies contain in all a population
of 120,000 ; their united revenue is not equal to that of Barbados.
The neighbourhood of the French islands of Martinique and
Guadeloupe leads to much smuggling; as large an amount of
goods are annually smuggled into these islands by the French as
pay duty. Each Presidency has its own tariff fixed by its own
island legislature, whose functions after all are more municipal than
anything else. In Dominica it consists of fourteen members (seven
of whom are nominees of the Crown, and seven elected by all rate-
payers of over 25s. a year). The Federal or General Legislature is
elected for three years, and meets once a year at Antigua. It
consists of ten elected and ten members nominated by the Crown.
Of these latter, however, six must be taken, one from each of the
island legislatures. The other ten are elected, four by the island
legislature of Antigua, four by that of St. Kitts and Nevis, two by
that of Dominica. As the same men generally sit in both the
island and general legislatures, it would much simplify matters if
there was one central legislature to perform all the duties that now
pertain to five small centres; and really the functions of each
president could very well be performed by a resident magistrate in
each island. All expenses of the federal colony of the Leeward
Islands are apportioned into sixteen parts, of which five are borne
by Antigua, four by St. Kitts, three by Dominica, two by Nevis ,
one by Montseirat, and one by the Virgin Islands.

It w^as distinctly provided and contemplated in the British Act
of Parliament of 1871 constituting this federal union, that its
operations should be extended to any other of the West Indian
islands that may desire it. This beginning of federal union, (as
well as that other of the Windward or Southern Antilles group,)
will develop shortly, it is to be hoped, into a larger union that shall
embrace all the British West Indies alike. The political isolation

136 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880,

of the past, and the difficulty of communication before the days of
steam and telegraphs, have given rise to altogether erroneous
impressions that the islands differ radically from each other in
circumstances and needs. As a matter of fact they are all peopled
by agricultural negro communities, they all produce similar articles
for export, and are all capable of growing sufficient food for local
consumption. The character of the population is practically the
same in all, there being from 2 to 9 per cent, white, from 15 to 20
coloured or cross breeds, and from 83 to 71 per cent, negro and
Indian coolie residents in each. The various islands are, it is true,
in different stages of development, but this is a distinction that
affects their domestic but not their common policies. Under a
Federal Government the local legislatures of each group would
still exist for dealing with local peculiarities. It would be highly
desirable and consonant to the interests of all concerned that there
should be one Governor-in-chief for the " United Islands," of whose
appointment it should be a sine qttd non that he should visit each
island in turn and reside there a sufficient length of time to see
things for himself. Such personal knowledge and attention would
be necessary in order that each island might obtain the full benefits
of his greater experience and ability, and in many cases his visits
to the smaller islands especially had better be unexpected.

There should be one judicial system for the United British West
Indies, one civil service, one system of customs duties, one of
telegraphic and postage commimications ; one federal legislature for
the whole, which, while leaving the local liberties of the flourishing
colonies of Barbados and Trinidad untouched, would conduce to
raise the less flourishing and smaller islands to the same level of
prosperity. As a united body the British West Indian Islands will
be able to do more for one another and for the common good than
they can possibly achieve while isolated. Economy of time and of
labour and of expenditure would be thus insured. The question of
labour supply and immigration is one which alone would justify
union. Such federal union would not only benefit themselves but
the British Empire at large;. for by concerted action whole village
communities from the East might be translated from starvation to
affluence on the waste lands of what are now impoverished islands.]

March 2nd. — We were to have started before dawn for a ride
ashore, but were detained by the chief member of the party,
who was sleepy, and thought it was going to rain, so did not
start till 8 A.M., when we found Mr. Eldridge had been up and

1880. DOMINICA— LAND-CRABS. 137

waiting two hours for us. Mounted and rode through the tumble-
down street out to Belle Vue, where we forded the stream and
turned up the valley inland. After crossing some sugar-cane fields
and passing underneath some very tall and old palm-trees we
arrived at the remains of an old sugar-mill. From this point we
struck up the hill-side once more inland ; the path led by some
magnificent tree-ferns, or rather fern-trees, over thirty feet high,
that were growing in the gullies. We gradually mounted the
ridge, and at the top came upon another ruined planter's house on
what would be a fine site for a sanatorium. We descended from
here by a very rough path through the woods to Champs Elysees,
dismounting in one place to catch a large brown land-crab which
scuttled across the path ; we then tied his claws with string and
brought him home on the saddle-bow. These crabs live in orderly
societies in their retreats in the mountains, and regularly once a
year march down in a body to the sea-side to spawn. They start in
April or May, and are sometimes three months reaching the shore
— which is three or four miles at least from where we caught ours.
Directly the crab reaches the sea it eagerly goes to the water that
the waves may wash off the spawn. The eggs are hatched under
the sand, and the old parents remain till the young are old enough
to march, when they set off and lead them up to their haunts
in the hills. In August they begin to fatten and prepare for
moulting, fitting up their burrows with dry leaves and other
materials. They close the entrance and remain inactive until they
get rid of the old shell and are provided with a new one. Next
we found a lot of red raspberries growing wild, which must be
the remains of another planter's garden. At last we came out on
to the beach, along which we made our way back to Roseau, where
the waves rolling in and the sound of the backward draw of the
surf over the pebbles, and in one place a good climb over some
slippery rocks, round a promontory of cliff that projects into the sea,
reminded us much of England. We got on board to breakfast-
lunch. In the evening, after the supper hour, landed small-arm
companies, marines and bluejackets, with field and Gatling guns,
for battalion drill, on the green in the centre of the town, up to
which they marched from the landing-place with band playing,
much to the delight of the negro people. There came to dine that
evening Judge Pemberton, and Mr. Faille, magistrate, member of
the island and also of the Federal legislature, and Messrs. Stedman
and Macintyre, merchants and members of the island legislature.

138 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

March Srd. — In the afternoon some went to play lawn-tennis at
the president's, and others to the cricket match which our eleven
played against the Dominican Club. Bacchante 154 and the
Dominicans thirty-four. Mail arrived from England in the
evening, fourteen days out. Telegraphed to Prince Waldemar at
St. Thomas, that we hoped to come on there to him.

The fishing here is the best we have met with hitherto at any
of the islands ; the streams for one thing are larger, and so are the
trout, many of them are over a pound each, and with fair luck
four dozen were taken to one rod in a day. The woods too are full
of wood pigeon, wild parrots and other birds.

March 4fth. — Landed at 7 A.M. for our last morning ride, which
was again up the Laudat valley, but this time to the sulphur
springs. It was a showery morning with fitful gleams of sunshine.
We leave the regular road and turn up through a large plantation
of lime-trees which, though newly introduced, give promise of
flourishing amazingly. Last year lime juice, cacao, and bay leaves
made up one quarter of the total exports of the island. Dr.
Imray has also introduced, with great success, the Liberian coffee,
which, as the leaves are thicker than the ordinary coffee, does
not take the blight so readily ; this also promises to be another
success for the island. At a ruined sugar-mill we had some
fresh cocoa-nuts, and soon afterwards came in sight of the steam
which was seen curiously curling up from the river bed over the
trees ahead ; it does not apparently injure the vegetation. Arrived
here we dismounted, and walked up the bed of the stream, at a
place where it broadens out, until we came under some dark brown
rocks which overhang it on the left-hand side. Here we heard the
continuous and sonorous bubble-bubble of the water boiling below
before it comes to the surface. The rocks were quite hot to the
hand (though perfectly shaded from the sun by the thick trees
overhead), and were covered with a sort of green slime and
sulphurous deposit, and the water was at boiling point. We visited
three of the springs, one under the rocks, another in the broad bed
of the stream, and a third about twenty feet or so higher up. The
whole of the cliff in this part of the valley is evidently undermined
by volcanic action, and may be expected at some period to collapse.
We returned and got off to the ship before noon, and were to have
sailed the same afternoon, but as there was no wind we had to give
it up. We have stayed at Dominica longer than was at first
intended, on account of the yellow fever, which is prevalent, though

1880. DOMINICA TO ST. THOMAS. 139

mild, at Antigua and St. Kitts, and therefore this is the only
one of the Leeward group which we are able to visit.

According to the original programme for the Bacchantes cruise
we were to have run down from the Leeward Islands, with the trade
on our port beam, to La Guayra and Caraccas, and thence, by
Dutch Cura9oa, turned and sailed up with the trade on our starboard
beam for Jamaica and Cuba. We longed to see that huge cliffed
and wooded paradise, haunted as it would be with the memories of
Rose Salterne and Frank Leigh. But this too had to be given up
on account of the disturbed state of the Venezuelan Republic,
some members of the Government having just " stuck up " the
chief bank in the place. So, having got on board our few curios
— some large flying beetles as big as birds, with huge horns, and
great stuffed frogs six inches long (the flesh off their hind-legs is
as white and tender as that off the wing of a chicken) — we patiently
wait here till we can get away under sail. We are becalmed just
as Rodney was under the lee of the highlands of Dominica, which
shut off the trade wind that we can see ruffling the surface of tlie
water a few miles to the north, if only we could crawl up to it.

March 6th. — At 9.30 a.m. weighed under sail, but the weather
being very wet with scarcely a breath of wind, we got no way on
the ship till noon. There came round the ship many of the same
sort of canoes as those we had seen at St. Vincent, each hollowed
out of one block of wood, with two boards sometimes built on as a
gunwale ; they are very light and rock about a good deal, and look
as if they would capsize, but apparently are buoyant. Towards
evening the weather cleared up and we saw Guadeloupe on the
starboard beam.

March 6th. — Saw the three peaks of Montserrat in the distance,
and the single peak of St. Kitts closer to us. It is said to resemble,
at least it did to Columbus, his patron saint, the giant St.
Christopher, with the infant Christ on his shoulder. We sighted
Nevis on the starboard beam, 3,500 feet high, where Captain
Horatio Nelson, on 11th March, 1787, then senior captain on
this station in H.M.S. Boreas, married Mrs. Frances Herbert
Nisbet and spent his honeymoon. She was the niece of Mr.
Herbert the Governor of Nevis, but had been left a widow by
Dr. Nisbet at the age of eighteen, with a little lad three years
old, who lived afterwards to save Nelson's life as a young officer
at Teneriffe (p. 41). The Duke of Clarence, who was then
on the station, gave the bride away; the Boreas returned to

140

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

England later in the year, and Nelson took his wife down to his
father's Norfolk parsonage. He was at this time twenty-nine

DOMINICA TO ST. THOMAS AND JAMAICA.

C A

R I B 8 E

9 MAR. 80.

^«b

Guadeloupe
Oomin

G^.

Martinique'^)

S. LuelaO

S. Vincent^

Grenada^

VENEZUELA

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Distance.

Sea.

Air.

Course.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

_,_ _.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon. 6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Mar.

N.W.

N.E. 1-2

15-18

61-25

N. 47 W.

168

N.E. 4-6

17-12

63-33

...

N.E. by E.
5-6

...

s.w. \ s.

N.E. 4-5

17-52

65-22

S. 82 W.

173

E.N.E. 5-6

17-29

68-21

S. 88 W.

143

E. 5-6

17-27

70-50

N. 88 W.

163

E. 5-8-6

17-30

73-41

12
To

N. 85 W.
tal distance.

152
10

E.S.E. 4
es.

17-51

76-15

940

966 mil

years of age, but had been twice in love before, once with a Canadian
lady in 1782, and once with a clergyman's daughter at Paris in the

1881. ST. THOMAS. 141

following year. He had already served at the North Pole as well
as in the East Indies, and in a former commission as lieutenant in
these West Indies, from 1777 to 1781. During the forenoon we
passed over the Saba bank where we saw the bottom clearly —
white sand and coral — at nine fathoms. By noon we had run 168
miles. At 5.15 p.m. observed Sainte Croix on the port bow, and
at 11.30 P.M. sighted St. Thomas's light.

March 7th. — Shortly after 2 A.M. came to in nine fathoms out-
side the harbour of St. Thomas — one of the fifty islands called
" Virgin " by Columbus, after St. Ursula and her companions. He
sighted them on his second voyage, 1493 ; they were held by Dutch
and English buccaneers till settled by Danes in 1672. The Danish
islands surrendered to the English in 1801 and again in 1807, but
were restored in 1815. Saw the sun rise over this bare-looking
island. The bright little town of Charlotte Amalia (so named after
the Danish queen) stands at the head of the bay, straggling up the
hills at its back ; the houses have white walls and green blinds, and
red-shingle roofs ; some are in gardens. The ships and mail steamers
are anchored in front of it, and the bowsprit of the Dag77iar just
shows from behind one island on the port hand. The bay has
evidently been the crater of an extinct volcano, and we are looking
into it from the outside through the gap where the sides of the
crater gave way and admitted the sea. The Dannebrog is fly-
ing over the Government House and fort, and fluttering too from
the many flagstaff's, one of which, just as in Denmark, every house
seems to possess. At 8 a.m. we too hoist the Danish flag to our
main masthead, and salute the white cross on the crimson ground
with twenty-one guns. After church Prince Waldemar and
Captain Br'.in came oft' to the Bacchante, and after going all over
the ship took us both back to the Dag7nar,^here we spent the day
but did not land. In the evening Prince Waldemar with Captain
Briin and Lieutenant Ebers dined on board the Bacchante, and tliere
was some talk of his going with us to Jamaica, but the difficulty
was in his rejoining the Danish corvette here, as he would arrive
in that island too late for the returning mail steamer, and the
Bacchante wsiS to proceed from thence to Bermuda.

March 8th. — At daylight (6.30 A.M.), weighed and proceeded under
sail, shaping course south-west by south, the wind being well from
the east, so that we were able to set port stunsails. Running before
the trade we make between six and seven knots, and pass the other
Danish island of Sainte Croix away in the distance on the port

142 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

beam (purchased by the Danes from the French for 75,000/.) ; the
two towns on the island are named after their twin kings, who always
reign alternately — Frederick stadt and Christianstadt. After we
got clear of St. Thomas's on the starboard hand (which has quite a
different appearance to any other West Indian island we have seen
yet, being apparently unwooded, bare and unfruitful), we came
upon little Crab Island, and then sailed during the morning on past
the long Spanish island of Porto Rico. The social and economical
history of this island is peculiar. It is a good deal smaller than
Jamaica, but it contains no fewer than 650,000 inhabitants,
whereas Jamaica contains only 560,000. The majority are people
of colour, that is a mixture of Spanish and Indian blood ; and instead
of being planters carry on a thriving pastoral business, and pass
for a hardy, dexterous, though not very industrious class, dwelling
among their flocks and herds like the Boers of the Cape. The
island has also a very fair export trade in sugar and coffee. It
was off here that Sir John Hawkins, and it was not far from here,
off Porto Bello, that Sir Francis Drake, each breathed forth their
manly spirits ; and beneath these waves sank to rest all that was
mortal of those two noble sons of Devon, far from home, it is
true, but in the very centre of that new world that had fired their
ambition, and still in quest of honour and of wealth for themselves
and Queen. At St. Domingo too, close by, by a curious coincidence,
the body of the great navigator Columbus was buried in 1506 in
the cathedral at St. Domingo, where his ashes were re-discovered
in 1877.

March 9th. — At five A.M. watched out of the stern ports the sun
rise ; first there was an orange tinge over the whole sky in the
east, and then the new moon rose, apparently going to join Venus,
which was the star shining just above; then this orange colour
faded all quite away, and just before the sun rose the sky seemed
dead grey again : at last up burst the king in all his glory from the
sea. The coast of Porto Eico, sixty miles distant from Haiti,
was still visible in the distance for half an hour after dawn.
Beading Hazard's Haiti all day while not in school as we
run along under its southern coast, which is 400 miles long.
The history of the island is about as sad as that of any of
the West Indies. " Haiti " is the old Carib for " mountainous
country." There were over three million Caribs in the island
when Columbus named it "Little Spain" in his first voyage,
1492 ; and on its northern shore was established the first

1881. ST. THOMAS TO JAMAICA. 143

Spanish colony in the new world. In thirty years the Spaniards
by incredible cruelties had exterminated them all ; and as
America became known withdrew to richer fields, leaving Haiti
almost depopulated. Spain began to import negroes in 1525 to take
the place of the Caribs as labourers. The whole island is about the
size of Scotland or Ceylon. The eastern half remained Spanish, and
from Hispaniola was re-named San Domingo; the western half was
taken by the French in 1665. Before the ''red fool-fury of the
Seine " it was a model colony ; at that time a third of the whole
commerce of France was with Haiti ; France was drawing as much
wealth from the eastern half of this single island as England drew
from India, or Spain from Mexico and Peru ; but at the Revolution
in 1790 it became the scene of frightful anarchy and bloodshed,
and such has it been more or less ever since, torn by contending
parties, an example of self-government by the free and independent
negro, sunk in misery, cannibalism and superstition of the most
sensual and degrading character. Yet it might be so different —
in all the wide world there is not a country more suited to
agriculture than Haiti ; the natural products are almost unlimited ;
mahogany and logwood forests cover the hills ; minerals abound,
but none are worked. The theories of Liberty, Fraternity, and
Equality, a heaven-sent gospel in themselves, have in the way they
have here been applied and carried out, turned a Paradise of God
and " the cradle of the new world " into an Augean stable, and a
very hell upon earth. In the afternoon got up parallel bars for
gymnastic exercises.

March 10th. — Wedding-day of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
What a wonderful thing this trade wind is ; over the blue sea it
comes unceasingly without a check or pause by day or night, and
we have been running steadily along under all possible sail ever
since we left St. Thomas's, and making between six and seven knots.
At 2 P.M. the high and mist-covered hills of the southern part of
Haiti are on our starboard beam, and at 4.30 P.M. we passed Alta
Vela, which, as far as we can see, is not a bit like a ship under
sail, unless it be a sort of felucca as seen from the east ; the
island, the southernmost point of Haiti, consists of bare rocks with
apparently some houses on the north side. The cliffs of San
Domingo that approach it look also bare and desolate.

March 12th. — This running along under a bright sun is the very
perfection of sailing. Saw a lot of flying-fish and came in sight of
Morant lighthouse, the easternmost point of Jamaica, about 10 A.M.,

144 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. J88a

and soon afterwards passed H.M.S. Northampton (Captain John
A. Fisher), and saluted the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir L. McClintock
with fifteen guns and lowered the royals: he is proceeding to
Bermuda, The flagship being painted white looks far shorter
than she reall}^ is. Passed Morant Bay at 1 P.M. and observed H.M.
schooner Sparrow-hawk, lying at anchor there. All the afternoon
had splendid view of the Blue Mountains, (the highlands of Jamaica
7,000 feet in height and the backbone of the island,) as we sail
along its southern shore. Columbus first saw them 3rd May,
1494, on his second voyage out here : he took possession of
Jamaica, but for eight years afterwards no European set foot thereon.
When he came again on his fourth and last voyage to the Indies,
by foretelling an eclipse of the sun he easily reduced the natives
to submission. They were a gentle race, sunburnt, brown, tall^
well-proportioned, but were gradually exterminated by the
Spaniards, being slowly roasted alive, and tortured in every
imaginable way. Las Casas describes what he saw ; 60,000 had
perished in sixty years and the worthy man proposed to import
blacks from Africa in order to relieve the wretched Indians from
their bondage.

At 3.15 P.M. down screw, and at 4 P.M. commenced steaming. At
G P.M. shortened and furled sails. Just before sunset we saluted
the flag of the Commodore, Hon. W. J. Ward, which we could just
distinguish on board the Urgent, over and beyond the sandy spit
of Port Royal. Here and there on this barren sandy spit are
great bushes of prickly pear and other cacti, covering large spaces
of the bank with their impenetrable spines, and in a few spots wave
groups of graceful cocoa-nut palms ; all along the high-water line on
the beach lie heaps of sea-weeds drying in the sun, and fan corals.
It looks a desolate spot enough. We steal up to this through
the kays or black reefs, over which the waves are lazily breaking ;
we round its western end and find here H.M. ships Tourmaline
(Captain R. Dennistoun), Druid (Captain W. R. Kennedy), Tamar
(Captain Liddell), Fantdme (Commander W. C. Karslake), Plover
(Commander H. B. Stewart). Boom goes the gun from the
Urgent, telling that the sun's rim has just disappeared be-
neath the horizon, crack goes the rifle of the sentry on the
forecastle of each man-of-war in response, and, ere the last notes
of the buglers have died away, down from each ship's peak
descends for the night the White Ensign and St. George's Cross,
their folds hauled on the deck by the signalman on duty. We were

1880.

AT JAMAICA.

145

to have picked up No. 1 buoy, which the Northamj^ion had just
vacated, but not liking to lower one of the freshly-painted boats,
sent the men down on to the buoy over the bows of the ship;
they had some difficulty in making fast. At the same time the
chief engineer coming up from the engine-room reported that the
starting gear had gone wrong and that he could not go either ahead
or astern as required (and it had been now a few turns astern, now
a few turns ahead for the last fifteen minutes), so ultimately had to
give up making fast for this night ; let go an anchor at 8 P.M., dusk
having thrown a kind veil over our surroundings and proceedings.

AT JAMAICA.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air. 1

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Mar.

E.S.E. 5

14S.

S.E. 5-6

S.E. 3-5

S.E. 3-2

S.E. 3-6

S.E. 3-4

•78

21S.

Variable 1 2

March V^ih. — Weighed anchor and secured to No. 1 buoy off
Port E-oyal. H.M. tender Tyrian went up to Kingston, taking the
commodore and the captain, with Mr. Musgrave (the governor's
private secretary) and Mr. Walker (the colonial secretary), to call
on Mr. Newton (the acting governor). They returned in the
evening to Port Royal.

Kingston, only nine miles south-east of Spanish Town, stands
on the north side of its land-locked bay, which is about six miles
long and two wide (it is five miles south-west from Kingston to Port
Royal), up and down which rush many small sailing boats, with their
high cotton sails, from the town, to trade with the Queen's ships
lying here. They heel over to the land or sea breeze ; if the breeze
is stiff the negroes call it " a three-man breeze," if moderate only " a
two-man breeze," from the number of the negro crew required to sit
out on the weather gunwale to prevent capsizing. A narrow, slightly

VOL. I. L

146 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

elevated spit of land nine miles in length, never more than a few
hundred yards broad, called the " Palisades," runs east and west,
nearly parallel with the coast line, acting as a sort of breakwater.
At the western end, where it widens out, stands Port Royal.

Jamaica is distant 4,000 miles almost due south-west from
England ; the mail, which goes twice a month, makes the passage
on an average in seventeen days. The island is 160 miles long
and 50 broad — about one-ninth the size of Cuba and one quarter
that of Haiti, or about two-thirds that of Wales. During the
height of its prosperity never more than two-fifths were under
cultivation. It was sighted first on its north side near Dry
Harbour, by Columbus in his second voyage. May, 1494, on
coming eastwards from Cuba. Spanish Town was not founded
till 1525; it was taken by the English in 1596, but restored to
Spain; again taken in 1635, and again given up. The continual
hostility of the Spaniards to all other Europeans in the West
Indies, and the relentless cruelty which accompanied their do-
minion, together with the enormous advantages which English
planters were reaping in Barbados (where they were making
more than fifty per cent, on their capital at that time) induced
Cromwell to resolve upon a bold stroke which was worthy of his
statesmanship. This was the conquest of St. Domingo (Haiti), then
the most valuable of the Antilles. Most of it was in the possession of
the Spaniards, though the French buccaneers had settlements in the
west of the island. Cromwell sent out an expedition of 10,000 men
under Admiral Penn and General Venables ; but they were repulsed
by the Spaniards. Unwilling however to return to England they
attacked Jamaica before its inhabitants had heard the news of
their defeat. It was at that time in a poor condition ; but within
a hundred years after the English took it it became one of the
richest places in the world. They rounded Cagway Point May the
10th, 1655 ; from that day to this it has remained English. The
Spaniards had held the island 160 years, during which time the
principal product of the island was cacao. The troops who had
won it were soon joined by settlers from home, for Cromwell was
bent on colonising Jamaica ; and to encourage its trade issued a
proclamation, in 1655, that all goods should be transported to the
island duty free for seven years ; and that no tax should be placed
on colonial productions for ten years. In 1656 Irish and Scotch
'* idle, masterless persons, robbers, vagabonds, male and female,"
were, by Cromwell's orders, gathered together and as labourers sent

1880. JAMAICA— PORT ROYAL. • U7

thither. The great Protector died, however, without sanctioning
the importation of negroes. Point Cagway, as it was called by the
English, was a corruption of Spanish Caguaya, which in its turn
was a representation of a former Indian name. It became in the
disorganised condition of the Indies the mercantile depot of the
west, the chief place of resort for privateers, the grand treasure-
house of their prizes and plunder; here the buccaneer of whatever
nationality he might be was welcomed by the English as an enemy
of the Spaniard. Charles II. was proclaimed king here on the
29th May, 1661, and the place thenceforth was called Port Royal,
and two forts were erected, named from him and his brother. Fort
Charles and Fort James. On the latter the date 1670 still stands;
the former was submerged in the earthquake. The Duke of York
had the exclusive right to import 3,000 negroes annually to the
West Indies. The first " Assembly " was convened 1664 ; and Sir
Henry Morgan, the gallant buccaneer, became governor. He had
been knighted for his successful raid at Panama. The children of
British subjects had the same privileges as if born within the
realm ; emigration was encouraged in every way and the arrival of
a considerable number of Jews gave an impetus to commerce. All
kinds of curious people settled on the island, who applied their
best talents to gratifying the licentious passions of the freebooters,
and earned a golden harvest thereby.

On the 7th of June, 1692, between eleven o'clock and noon, in
three minutes. Port Royal was, with 3,000 of the people, shaken by
an earthquake off its sandy spit into the sea ; the assembly was
sitting at the time ; the sky was clear and the air serene, and the
people wholly unprepared ; its old site is marked by the " Church
Buoy " moored over the sunken church. The survivors fled across
the bay and founded Kingston ; but Port Royal lifted its head
again and increased. In 1702 came the French from Haiti to
plunder; Benbow beat them off. In 1703 it was destroyed by
fire; and then in 1722 harried by hurricane; but it was only
when, in 1815, the place was once more consumed by fire, that no
further attempts were made to rebuild Port Royal as the capital.

We dined with the Commodore in the evening. He had given
a general invitation to the officers of the other ships to come
ashore in the evening ; many availed themselves of this, and we
had a pleasant time playing billiards, varied with music and
singing, in the cool rooms and verandahs of the spacious Admiralty
House, which possesses wide passages and plenty of doors and

L 2

148 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

windows before and behind, so that whatever breeze there is
always blows through it.

March 14th. — Service on the upper deck. Here for the first time
in our cruise we have become acquainted with the striking alternations
of the land and sea breeze ; all day long the trade blows in from
the sea until sunset, when it lulls, and there is an absolute calm
without a breath of air stirring for about one or two hours ; at the
end of which time the land breeze reaches us as we lie here, blow-
ing off the island, and so continues constant and steady all night
through till the following morning after divisions ; then it falls and
there is another lull without a breath of air, usually till about
10 A.M. This, is the most trying and overpowering heat of the day,
till the sea breeze once more sets in, and holds its own till evening.
This change happens almost every day with the regularity of clock-
work ; some days, however, the land breeze is strong enough to
last on almost to noon. The cause of this land and sea breeze is,
that when the sun goes down the land cools more quickly than the
water ; and so the air over the land becomes colder and therefore
heavier than the air over the sea, which remains warmer and
therefore lighter for some little time longer. Thereupon the heavier
air presses out from the land and this is the " land breeze." The next
morning the sun heats the land and the air hanging over it more
quickly than he heats the sea and the air over that ; hence, the
balance is reversed, and now the air over the sea, being heavier and
colder, thrusts away the warmer and lighter air over the land ; and
this is the " sea breeze." This explanation, of course, holds good in
any warm climate where there is a great difference in the temperature
between the day and night. But where, as at Jamaica for instance,
the trade wind is blowing constantly day and night out at sea, when
the turn of the sea breeze sets in it is strengthened and kept con-
stant by this ever vigorous current of air which acts as a thrusting
spring.

March loth. — At 6.30 A.M. sailed H.M. ships Tamar and Flamingo.
At 10 A.M. H.M.S. Druid left under sail, passing close under our
stern and looking uncommonly well, for Carthagena. Captain
Kennedy is very keen about the possibility of discovering a large
amount of treasure which is said to be hidden away from the times
of the old buccaneers in a cave in an island there or thereabouts.
Many yams have been told him by an old man who professes to have
entered the cave and seen the golden coin and silver plate lying
there in heaps, and who, for a consideration, has offered to show the

1880. JAMAICA— PORT ROYAL. 149

way. The Bacchante is coaling ship ; from this we were able to

get away at 4 P.M., and went on board H.M.S. Urgent, where

Commander Warry showed us over the old two decker covered in with

a double wooden roof to keep her decks cool. Everything seemed

beautifully clean, and cool, and we enjoyed sitting in his cabin with

its wide and airy old-fashioned stern ports and looking at his photos

and curios. After wishing a pleasant voyage to Commander

Stewart of the Plover, he went off to the ship and we went ashore

to the recreation-room. As we did so we pulled round the

Plover, as she was now under way with her paying-off pendant

streaming astern, homeward bound for England. Met a good many

officers in the bowling-alleys and large, airy billiard-rooms and

verandahs there. This club has been started, not only for the

convenience of officers, but chiefly for the use of the bluejackets,

who have their reading-rooms, bowling-alleys, &c., instead of

frequenting the horrors of Port Royal. These ought all to be swept

away ; Government should buy up the miserable rotten dens just

outside the dockyard, burn the whole mess, and keep the ground clear

ever after. General leave is never given to the men of the Queen's

ships while lying at Port Royal, they always proceed round to Montigo

Bay or Fort Antonio, on the north side of the island, where there is

plenty of open country and the men can enjoy themselves as they

list. There is a large naval hospital ashore here.

March 16th. — Still coaling ship all day till the evening, when his
Excellency, the acting Governor, and Miss Newton and Miss
Musgr^ve, the Commodore and his secretary, and Captain
Dennistoun came on board and dined.

March 17th. — Left the ship with a large party in the Commo-
dore's steam-launch, some going up to Kingston to play in the
cricket match and others up to the King's House with us. We
landed at 12.30 p.m. Mr. Kemble, the custos of Kingston, and
other gentlemen met us at the steps, at the foot of the statue
of Rodney, removed here from Spanish Town. Each of the
fourteen parishes in Jamaica has a municipal board and a civil
officer styled a " custos ; " he is designated " honourable," and has
the custody of the parochial records. The island is divided into
three counties, Surrey at the eastern end, Middlesex in the middle,
and Cornwall at the extreme western end. We drove through the
town, noticing first the large new iron markets on the right. The
streets were filled with negroes cheering, and waving coloured hand-
kerchiefs, and running and jumping about in all their glossy and

150 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

grinning robustness and vigour. On either side, the pavement for
foot passengers is raised some distance above the level of the road,
and runs under an irregular colonnade which supports the upper
stoiy of the houses that usually project above it. They are mostly
of wood ; the whole arrangement with a high wind would burn like
tinder. (Kingston is periodically ravaged by conflagrations, and yet
has no fire brigade, but after each visitation appeals to England for
help.) We passed the red-brick church of St. Andrew, where Admiral
Benbow, better known as " old Benbow," is buried under a slab of
blue marble or slate on the left-hand side of the chancel near the altar
rails, his coat of arms, three arrows and a bow, his crest a seagull :
" Here lyeth interred the body of John Benbow, Esq., Admiral of
the Wliite, a true pattern of English courage, who lost hys life in
defence of hys Queene and country, November y** 4th, 1702, in the
52nd year of hys age, by a wound in hys leg received in an en-
gagement with Mons. Du Casse, being much lamented."^ In the
churchyard lies Sir Henry Morgan, the buccaneer. Then the road
leads by several old red-brick houses each of three or more stories
high in Queen Anne's style, exactly like those in England of the
same period except that there are no chimneys. They have often a
double flight of steps up to the door. The windows with their
small glass panes must be ill-adapted to the climate, and rather
hot without any shade or verandah. All the streets are at right
angles to each other. Those that run north and south begin at
the harbour, so that one end of them is sea and the other country ;

1 The wounds vfere received on the 21st of August in that year, when with one
skip he engaged a French squadron of five ships which threatened one of our "West
India islands. This action commenced on the 19th of August, when the captains of
five out of the seven ships which sailed with Benbow refused to assist the Admiral,
and letting their vessels drop astern left him with only one ship besides his own to
fight his adversaries. All that day these two vessels, the Breda and the Euby,
maintained the unequal contest. The Euby becoming disabled was sent to Jamaica
to refit, and on the 21st old Benbow renewed the battle single-handed, with one
ship against five. Three times in person did he board the French admiral's ship,
and three times was he driven back wounded in the face and in the arm ; and, with
his right leg shattered by a chance shot, he lay on deck in a cot giving his
orders. When some one expressed sorrow that his leg was broken, Benbow answered,
" I am sorry for it too ; but I had rather have lost them both than have seen dis-
honour brought upon the English nation. But, do you hear ? if another shot should
take them off, behave like brave men, and fight it out." All this time the five
captains remained looking on at a respectful distance in their ships. Benbow at last
extricated the Breda and sailed to Jamaica, where the five captains were tried by
court-martial, by whose sentence two of them were shot and one cashiered. Admiral
Du Casse, who led the French squadron, wrote a letter to Benbow when the fight
was over. " Sir," he said, ** I had little hope on Monday last but to have supped
m your cabin, but it pleased God to order it otherwise, and I am thankful for it.
As for those cowardly captains who deserted you, hang them up ; for, by God, they
deserve it.— Yours, &c., Du Casse."

1880.

JAMAICA— KINGSTON.

151

the houses are very irregular, large and small, repaired and
unrepaired, being mixed up together. There are generally a few
feet of space between these houses, from which acacias or palms
peep out : and the crimson or purple bourgainvillea seems rather
common. At the top of the street is the Central Park with a granite
statue of Lord Metcalfe, erected in 1842, he being Governor at
the time of the emancipation of the slaves. The road out to King's
House (which used to belong to the Bishop, and stands about four
miles outside the town in its own grounds) is uncommonly dusty, the

JAMAICAN CACraS AND PINQUIN HEDGES

dust lying on it two or three inches deep. It runs by many modern
detached villas (most have green verandahs and stand in their own
gardens, rich with every colour of plant and creeper), and passes
between tall cactus hedges, some with great fingered stalks four or
five inches in diameter, and fifteen feet high, which are in some
places broken for a bit where there is a profusion of blue-flowered
plumbago, and in others by what looks like two hedges of .pine-apple
plants without fruit. This plant is called pinguin, and appears to
be a sort of cross between pine-apple and aloe. As they grow

152 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

thickly on the ground, their spiky points make a very im-
penetrable fence ; and their long, thin, yellowish green leaves are
edged with a formidable array of large prickles. When the plants
get well established the leaves turn brilliant crimson near the end,
while the very tip of the leaf is golden yellow. We pass many
barefooted negroes, most of them women, going into town with
baskets on their heads, and a peculiar jaunty gait. The erect-
ness with which they carry themselves is due in great measure
to their throwing the head and shoulders back to sustain the
weight which they thus bear, often consisting of fifty-six pounds of
provisions, yams, &c. How many English or Scotch women would
be physically able to bear such a burden for ten or fifteen miles !
They carry their shoes and put them on before entering the town
for show, but for walking in the country they prefer the freedom
of bare feet, just as Scotch boys do. Away inland rise the mount-
ains, green to their summits, with lights and shadows diversified on
their ravines and ridges which tower one above the other. We
can see the white hut-barracks of Newcastle clustering high upon
one of the hills.

Mr. Newton has arranged our rooms for us very pleasantly.
He is the brother of Professor Newton, who was a great friend of
Canon Kingsley's at Magdalene College at Cambridge, and who has
one of the finest collection of birds in Europe. There is a beautiful
verandah, broader even than that at Trinidad, round both stories of
the house, shaded with sun blinds and creepers, and furnished with
cane lounging-chairs and tables for writing and reading. There
are no doors to any of the rooms, but small shutters of lattice work
instead, which, hung on hinges on each side of the doorway, meet
when closed in the middle, and hook. The shutters are each
about three feet deep, and thus leave the broad space of the doorway
both above and below them absolutely free and open for the current
of air. All the floors and furniture are of the dark unpolished
native mahogany. It is much cooler here than on board ship.
Asliwin, a midshipman from the Druid, who has badly sprained his
ankle, is staying up here, which is very jolly; he has the next room
to ours. At lunch we tasted several new things ; great shrimps in
jelly with cray fish, and a refreshing drink of grauadillo seeds,
something like those of melons; these mixed with a little sugar and
sherry, and taken from a wineglass are very nice ; turtle, of course,
came for dinner, but the Jamaica pines are not much, not so good
as those grown under glass in England. Afterwards we drove down

1880. JAMAICA— KING'S HOUSE. 153

with Mr. Newton to see the cricket match on the Up-park camp
ground by the old barracks, two long lines of buildings, two stories
high, of red brick, with window-sashes painted white and small
glass panes, built in the early Georgian days, when Jamaica was
esteemed the brightest jewel in the crown, and a Jamaican planter
was synonymous with an Indian Nabob for the possession of
fabulous wealth. Bacchante scored 31 runs first innings, Kingstown
Club, 110; they put us in again, and we got 68 for three wickets ;
we were thus thoroughly well beaten. A shore-going eleven has
always many more chances of practising together than a ship's
eleven can possibly have. We stayed here some time sitting
under the shade of the huge cotton tree, up which Tom Cringle
of former days climbed, and afterwards described his feelings in his
well-known Log.

The Commodore and Capt. Dennistoun, who are staying at Mary-
field, close by King's House, have Christian and Fitzgerald as their
guests, and come across the garden for all meals, &c., so we are
a large party and very comfortable. Mr. Newton has asked up six
more midshipmen from the Bacchante, so that the gunroom must
be nearly empty now. There is a capital large swimming bath
shaded from the sun where we had a good swim before dinner,
after which there was a small reception, and the Governor introduced
us to most of the people. At night the thermometer went down
to 61°.

March 18th. — All up early bathing. In the afternoon there was
a garden party and plenty of lawn- tennis. In the evening dinner
was served outside in the verandah, which was beautifully cool and
nice ; the thermometer was down to 61° again. A quantity of walking-
sticks of all sorts of woods were brought up for us to choose from,
amongst others several of the pimento or pepper tree. These last
are very much used for umbrella handles. Between four and five
thousand bundles of these (valued at 15,000 dollars), each bundle
containing from 500 to 800 sticks, have been exported in one year
to the United States and England.

March 19th. — Left King's House at 11.80 A.M. and drove into
Kingston past the Half-way-Tree House with a pretty church close
by, and then left at twelve o'clock by a special train for Spanish Town.
A party of officers from the ship met us at the station. The rail-
way runs at first through low sandy scrub covered with acacia
bushes : after a while these grow higher and trees begin to be
mingled with the mimosas and cactuses. After crossing one or

154 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

two little rivers the railway enters a large tract of marshy ground
with mangroves and creeks of water under their straddling branches.
At last this marshy ground gives way to large flat fields of coarse
grass, dotted with large trees : which were nearly everywhere
bearded with a grey hair-like moss growing in tufts along the
branches. The whole run of over thirteen miles took about
twenty minutes.

On leaving the train we got into carriages which were waiting
for us, and drove through Spanish Town, with its red-brick
Cathedral and imposing old Government Buildings in the square,
with pillared Ionic porticoes. It was built by the son of Columbus
in 1525 and named "St. James of the Plain," to distinguish it
from St. James of Cuba. The English on arrival, in 1655, called
it Spanish Town. It is six miles from the nearest point of the sea.
In 1754 the seat of government was removed from Spanish
Town to Kingston ; there it remained only for four years, when it
was shifted back again, and in 1763 these great buildings were
completed. In 1872 the seat of government was finally moved to
Kingston. The fine marble statue by Bacon of Lord Rodney, the
saviour of the West Indies by his victory over the French in 1782,
has since been removed to Kingston, and now stands by the landing
steps there ; the vacant site it once occupied here and its empty
canopy and pillared screen still fill the side of the square opposite
the old King's house. In front were two long bronze French
thirty-two pounders taken out of the Ville de Paris, one of them
bearing the name of " Louis Charles de Bourbon, Compte d'Eu,
Due d'Aumale, 4th May, 1748. Ultima ratio regum!' This deserted
group of buildings is really the whole of the town, which without
them would be quite a small village. Here and there a few houses
half boarded up, left to dirt and squalor, are falling gradually to
their last end. A third side of the square is occupied by what
was the Parliament House, which has been the scene of many
strange and unseemly proceedings and much waste of public pro-
perty. In 1864, out of a population of half a million, under two
thousand had votes ; the great body of the population was un-
represented, twenty-five members were elected by less than thirty
votes each ; ten members were returned by 162 votes. For thirty
years the character of the house had been deteriorating. The out-
break occurred in October 1865, supported by the blacks in Haiti,
and it was intended to massacre all whites. This was put down.
In January 1866 Sir Henry Storks came out as Governor, and on

1880. JAMAICA— TAXATION. 155

the 10th of that month the House of Assembly^ which consisted in
full of forty-seven members, voted its own decease, having existed
for 202 years, Mr. Cardwell being Secretary of State for the
Colonies at the time. Jamaica has been since then a Crown colony,
and is governed practically from Downing Street, under a Governor
and a Council of eighteen, nine of whom are official and nine non-
official members, these last elected from nine districts by about
9,000 electors. Under this regime the condition of the island at
first steadily and visibly improved. The value of imports gradually
and steadily increased 50 per cent. For eight years successively
the revenue considerably exceeded the expenditure; popular educa-
tion was extended, and the Church of England disestablished in
1870. Coolie labour has been introduced to the great advantage
of the negro. Coffee, for which the dry red sandy Icam of the hills
is just adapted, has been much planted. Tobacco is becoming a
valuable export, many Cubans coming over to cultivate it here, on
account of the insecurity of the Spanish dominion in their own
island ; the soil is the same as that of Cuba, and no reason exists
why, if it be properly managed, it should not compete with that of
the larger island.

[In 1880 the public debt had been reduced from 719,000^. to
485,000/. There had been no increase of taxation since 1867,
while the savings bank deposits were nearly four times as great.
But these indications of rapid financial amelioration and social
success which attended the measures adopted by Mr. Cardwell and
Mr. Forster for the reform of the constitution of the island, then an
insolvent colony almost in a condition of social civil war, have not
been since borne out. Although the population of Jamaica is
nearly five times that of the Windward Group or the Leeward
Group, yet the exports are only 11. per head of the population,
while in each of those two groups they are over 3/. per head. A
very small fraction of the exports are anything but sugar. The
total public debt of the colony in 1884 amounted to 869,000/. Of
this it is true 58 per cent, has been expended on reproductive
works, 20 per cent, more has been expended on works of utility,
indirectly reproductive, such as roads, buildings and bridges, and
the remaining 22. per cent, is the legacy of former days, and of a
series of untoward circumstances. It is hoped that most of this
debt will be redeemed within the present century. The two diffi-
culties are, {a) method of raising taxation ; and (h) labour supply.

{a) At the present, Jamaica is not heavily taxed. The revenue

156 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

raised is at the rate of a little over 1/. per head of population, while
in British Guiana the rate is half as much again, and in Trinidad
the rate is three and a half times as great. Out of a population of
580,000 only 13,000 are white ; not one in forty. The majority of
the planting and mercantile classes are intelligent and reasonable
in their views of taxation ; but the bulk of the negroes are unreason-
able and ignorant to a degree, with the consequence that it is
specially difficult to obtain revenue by direct taxes. The negro is
unwilling to pay any visible or direct tax ; and hence the policy
has arisen of placing indirect taxes in the shape of import duties
on food — flour, meal and salt fish. These food duties in Jamaica
yield nearly 30 per cent, of the revenue, with the consequence that
one pound of bread costs here Sd. to S^d. while in England the 4 lb.
loaf sells at 6d. or Q^d. It has been alleged that these taxes do
not, however, immediately affect the negro, who prefers to live on
roots such as yams, plantains, and bananas, and does not consume
on the average more than 25 lbs. of imported breadstuffs per head
per annum, at a value of about 6s. for the whole year ; and out of
this total it seems only about 8d. goes into the treasury as import
duty. If this is so, then the food duties have failed of the very
purpose of their existence : the negro does not pay his share of the
indirect taxes which were originally instituted for his benefit. And
on the other hand, is it nothing that flour should pay 18 to 26 per
cent, duty on its first cost in America ? The negro is the most
stalwart of men, and for the heavy labour in the plantations re-
quires a more sustaining diet than he at present gets ; if the import
duties were taken off breadstuffs, would he not be enabled and
encouraged to provide himself with these, and would not a diet
sufficient to produce and maintain physical energy be put within the
reach of every one ? It is replied that food taxation has no effect
on consumption. It does not check the consumption ; for salt fish,
which is eaten as a condiment by the negro with his vegetable diet,
is admitted free of duty into Trinidad, and in Jamaica the import
duty is very high, but yet the consumption per head is the same in
both islands. The removal of import duties does not increase the
consumption; for in Montserrat corn has been admitted free of
duty for nine years, and yet no more per head is consumed there
than in Jamaica. All depends on the habits or the needs of the
particular population. The negro does not prefer wheat as a food.
The taxation of food stuffs in the West Indies then involves two
questions : in the first place, are they necessaries of life ^ and

1880. JAMAICA— LABOUR SUPPLY. 157

secondly, is there any other and better means of raising an equiva-
lent amount of necessary revenue ? Although cornmeal and flour
are nutritious, yet the negro obtains much nourishing vegetable
food in the shape of sweet potatoes, yams, bread-fruit, plantains,
and other tropical produce growing abundantly in the island. As
regards the second, it might be urged that as one-fifth of the
revenue is devoted to providing medicinal and educational ad-
vantages for the negro population, it is only right that they should
contribute their fair share towards obtaining the special benefits
Government provides for them. The negro's contribution to food
duties is small ; his objection to direct taxes great, and the total
abolition of food duties, which are easily collected and willingly
paid, and the substitution of others, might cause widespread and
serious discontent. Nevertheless it must be remembered that the
negro peasant proprietors in Grenada have made an offer to pay a
tax of 5s. per acre on their cacao lands, and that a small uniform
land-tax (similar to that in Trinidad, p. 81, and in Barbados) of
Is. on every acre in Jamaica up to 100 acres, Qd. on every other
acre up to 500 acres, and l^d. on every acre over 500 acres, would
not only check squatting on abandoned plantations and its at-
tendant evils, but also raise considerable revenue from the larger,
as well as the smaller, landed proprietors. If Jamaica were made
a free port like Trinidad, its commerce and prosperity would pro-
bably at once increase ; and when the Panama Canal is completed
the adoption of free trade would be of still greater consequence.
This great undertaking will revolutionise the trade, and work great
changes in the prospects, of those West Indian islands whose
Governments are ready to meet the new conditions of things.

But even if Jamaica were made a free port, and the taxation was
equitably raised, there would still remain the second difficulty, that
of (h) labour supply. In Jamaica the number of the negro peasant
proprietors is increasing. There are at present little short of 50,000,
who between them occupy 108,000 acres (an average holding of
twenty acres apiece). Most of these are unwilling to work except
on their own ground ; where they grow provisions, fruits, and other
articles that may be raised in a small way for the large markets of
America near at hand. It is doubtful, however, whether the land
is not being permanently injured by the operations of these un-
skilled and penniless cultivators, who recklessly destroy timber and
burn up the country by the wasteful method of fires, and many
of them then abandon their plots after exhausting the soil. More'

158 CRUISE OF H.MiS. BACCHANTE. 1880.

over, the younger generation of the Jamaican negroes view manual
labour with absolute abhorrence ; a small amount of education they
fancy raises them above the need to labour, and their ambition
leads them to overstock the market with clerks, writers, small
lawyers and itinerant preachers. Now of course it is quite right
that able men should endeavour to rise and better themselves.
There is nothing wrong in the negro thus aiming to reach as high
a sphere as he can attain ; but the consequence is, that if he will
not work others must be introduced to do the labour he refuses.
And the introduction of such other labour will benefit the negro in
the long run, for he is neither better nor worse than the labourer
iu other countries. In Barbados he works because he is taught
by the force of competition that if he does not he will starve ; and
the Barbadian negro in consequence is far more prosperous and
healthy than the Jamaican. Indolence, whether in the negro or
any other race, is rendered inveterate by the bounties of nature.
The yams, and bananas, and plantains, grow abundantly for his
eating, almost without culture, and more he does not want. Every
passion acts upon his untrained and happy animal nature with
strange intensity ; his anger is sudden and furious, his mirth
clamorous, his vanity excessive, and his curiosity audacious. Emo-
tional in the highest degree and good-humoured, it would not
seem unreasonable to suppose that he is capable of being per-
manently raised in the scale of humanity. Our forefathers brought
this race here from Africa and we are responsible for their sur-
roundings; and when we consider that the negro population
of the West Indies had been slaves for a generation or two, and
absolute savages before they were made slaves, the wonder is
not that they should come short of a European standard of
civilisation, as no doubt they do, but that they should have done
as well as on the whole they have. The negro has immense
physical strength united to the intellect and disposition of a child.
He has a child's ignorance, carelessness, dislike of continued effort,
and even the thoughtless cruelty which often shocks us in children.
The very fact of his great physical strength stands in the way of
the negro's intellectual progress. He can do so much by the
exertion of mere brute force, and his wants are so few, that the
mind is seldom stimulated to exercise. Absolute freedom unac-
companied by any kind of restraint is not good for man, and in the
case of the negro, who, like all other races upon whom civilisation
has only recently dawned, is in many respects but a grown-up child.

1880. JAMAICA— LABOUR SUPPLY. 159

it ought to be no matter for wonder that it has failed to produce the
rapid amelioration which was anticipated by those who did not know
him. But if with freedom he can acquire habits of industry and
self-respect, as in time he surely will, there can be no doubt he will
play a more important and satisfactory part in the history of the
future than he has done in that of the past. When the West
Indian negro is not industrious, the cause is not merely the posses-
sion of freedom, but the combination of very few wants with
unlimited land on which to squat.

The small amount of labour given by the negro is a proof that
he needs little work to obtain the food he wants. The rate of
wages for labourers in Jamaica is Is. Qd. to Is. 9d. per day. If the
work is by piece there is no difficulty in earning 2s. 6d. to 3s.
Bread is Sd. per lb., but he need not buy it unless he pleases.
Pork and beef average 6d. per lb., and can at times be bought for
less. Meat grown in the island pays no duty that can affect the
price. Skilled labour is paid remarkably well. The Jamaica
Handbook says that, on a rough average, labour costs from 50 to
100 per cent, more in Jamaica than in England. A negro labourer
can earn 10s. to 12s. a week, a sum nominally equal to the wages of
an agricultural labourer in England, but double in its purchasing
power, since the negro has very little expense for house rent (he
very often obtains his house accommodation free when working on
estates), and has not to provide himself with heavy clothing.

Now no one disputes the perfect right of the negro to employ
himself in whatever work he may choose ; but as Jamaica principally
depends upon the sugar industry, and as the island population does
not (as a mere matter of fact) afford sufficient available labour for
the sugar cultivation, recourse must be had to immigration from
other British possessions.

There is no mysterious law which binds the West Indian
proprietor to employ the African rather than the temperate and
the economical Asiatic. To imagine that the negroes in an island
which is not cultivated to one-fifth of its capabilities are to sit
still like dogs in the manger and neither do aught themselves to
develop its resources or permit other people to come in and do so,
is bad humanity and worse science. There is no compulsion,
moral or political, that we should prefer the African to the Asiatic.
The two most prosperous of the West Indian colonies are those in
which the Asiatic has been employed on a large scale, and with
energy — Trinidad and British Guiana. Trade with England,

160 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

stationary in the case of Jamaica, has steadily increased and nearly
doubled itself in the other. Trade with all the world, practically
stationary in the one case, has nearly quadrupled itself in the
other. The total output from the sugar estates, actually decreasing
in the one case, has increased nearly three-fold in the other. The
acreage cropped in canes shows a decrease in the one case, while in
the other it has more than doubled itself. The introduction of the
coolie not only benefits the land and the general prosperity of the
country, but it largely advantages the negro himself. For his
character and capacities depend much, as in other races, on his
circumstances and surroundings. Under a stimulus to work he
will exert himself; but there is at present no sufficient stimulus
here. The negro works admirably at the heavy labour re-
quired in making railway cuttings and embankments. In the
works connected with the Panama Canal, he is the most esteemed
and reliable among the many races employed on that undertak-
ing. In a recent report of the chief engineer of that work
it is said that the 12,000 Jamaica negroes were jealous of the
powerful machinery that excavated the deep earth cuttings, and
volunteered to do the work for the same cost as the machinery
and as quickly. The engineer wishing to encourage such excellent
labourers consented to this unprecedented demand, and the negro
actually succeeded in distancing the machinery. It is well known
among yachtsmen and sailors frequenting the West Indies that the
West Indian negro is a bold, reliable, obedient, and enduring
seaman. All present and past experience of the West Indies
and the United States point to the negro as the finest tropical
labourer in the world ; and if he refuses to work for our planters in
some of our islands, it is because sufficient stimulus to exertion in
the shape of double or treble pay as at Panama — there he receives
4s. 2d. a day instead of Is. Sd. here — or competition in the labour
market as at Barbados, does not exist to counterbalance the tempta-
tions to idle self-indulgence. But what a paradise this island of
Jamaica should be. It is said that thirty days' labour in the year
on one acre of good soil will, in addition to providing a family
with necessary food for the year, yield a surplus, saleable in the
market, of from 10/. to 30Z. And yet in the midst of all this
fertility the Jamaican negro is deteriorating in physique. Medical
evidence is strong on the signs he gives of decreasing vitality ; a
variety of forms of anaemia are becoming more and more common.
Whether this is the result of unhealthy habits of life, and an

1880. JAMAICA— LABOUR SUPPLY. 161

exclusive vegetable and fish diet is not clear. Meanwhile there is the
fertile land, and no labour available for tilling it successfully nor
any signs of such being forthcoming unless by immigration. The
addition of 100,000 coolies to the island population would only give
the same proportion as now exists in Trinidad and British Guiana.
In Trinidad out of a population of 160,000, 50,000 are coolies.
In Jamaica out of a population of 580,000 there are only 14,000
coolies ; 1,000 might very well be imported every year for the next
twenty years. In the last ten years 8,700 coolies who came as
paupers carried back to India with them 40,000/. in money and the
same sum in jewellery; these were their savings after having en-
riched their employers also by their labour. Similarly Chinese
coolies would increase the coffee crop 30 per cent., at an increase
to the present expense of only 5 per cent. Wherever a dearth of
labour really exists it should be at once remedied by coolie immi-
gration ; which, as we have seen before, confers great benefits on
multitudes of our fellow subjects in India and elsewhere, by trans-
ferring them from a condition of poverty, if not of starvation, to one
of competence and even affluence. The process is precisely parallel
to that other of transplanting thousands of our own British race
from the overcrowded shores of England to other regions in the
temperate zone either of North America, or Australia. That the
thing can be done and ought to be done to the interest of all con-
cerned (negroes as well as white men) is shown by comparing once
more the state of Barbados with that of Jamaica. Barbados with
its superabundant population cultivates every inch of ground, and
is able to grow sugar upon rocks by throwing earth upon them ;
on the other hand Jamaica, with thousands of acres of fine land
teeming with fertility, and with a climate on its magnificent
mountains suitable for the residence of Europeans, is but partially
cultivated, and could give a fair living to ten times its present
population. In Barbados great industry is essential to enable the
labourers to live, and the production of the soil is kept at its
highest pitch. In Jamaica comparatively little labour supplies the
wants of the agricultural population, and the easy acquisition of
land for his own cultivation renders the labourer independent to a
great extent of plantation employment. In such of the West
Indies as are underpopulated coolie and Chinese labour must be
introduced. That it will succeed and render millions happy is shown
in both hemispheres, in Singapore as well as in South America
With their aid Jamaica too will be able to cultivate her large tracts
VOL. I. M

162 CKUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

of splendid land now lying waste. The principal produce of the
island is still sugar, but the growth of the cane has greatly
diminished of late years ; it is not one-fifth of what it was before
1834, though the population has doubled since then. The sugar
plantations are situated on the lower and warmer tracts ; the coffee
thrives best in the hills and their declivities. Cattle are plentiful,
and the climate is well adapted for stock raising ; many oxen are
employed in agriculture and for draught purposes. No other of
the West Indian islands is equal to Jamaica in fertility, and yet
it no longer pays the white man to grow sugar in Jamaica, or
indeed anywhere else in the West Indies where he is dependent
upon negroes who have other means of obtaining their livelihood.
But Jamaica is in worse plight than most of the other islands.
While her annual expenditure is about four times larger than that
of Barbados and from one-fourth to one-third larger than that of
British Guiana or Trinidad, her total exports are barely more than
equal to those of the first-named island, which has one quarter of
her population, and one-twentieth of her area, and are only half of
the exports of the other two colonies.

Sugar cultivation will pay here, if it will pay anywhere, but it
must be under resident owners, who will manage their own business
and manufacture the sugar with some regard to science and
economy. For besides an importation of fresh labourers an
importation of science is desirable : there is ample scope for con-
siderable improvement in the growing and manufacture of sugar.
The beet-sugar maker has been largely assisted by scientific skill,
and is thus enabled to obtain all the sugar contained in the beet
juice, which is about the same quantity of sugar as the cane
planter gets from a like quantity of the juice of the sugar-cane.
But the juice of the cane contains twice as much sugar as that of
the beet-root, consequently the cane-planter loses, by imperfect
manufacture, as much sugar as he sells. If this be so, there would
be hope even yet for the West Indian to compete with bounty-fed
beet-sugar. It is stated that the error of the cane-planter occurs
in his perpetuating lime as a clarifier and the boiling of syrups
which should be evaporated only : thus seventy gallons of molasses
are produced for every hogshead of good sugar procured. But if
the syrup were evaporated, instead of being boiled (as is necessary
if lime be used as a clarifier), then an increase of 50 per cent
of sugar more than the usual product would be obtained :
and thus 100 tons would become 150 tons without an increased

1880. FUTURE OF JAMAICA. 163

expense worth naming : and the 50 tons would be a clear
gain.

It would therefore appear that the three means by which
prosperity may perhaps be brought back to Jamaica are these : —

1. The clearing away import duties on food, and the substi-

tution of a uniform land-tax in their stead.

2. The introduction of Indian coolies and Chinese, races who,

whether they are or are not equal to the negro in working
power man for man, are certainly not more foreign to the
soil than he is, and have the advantage of working where
he does not.

3. The scientific development of their neglected estates by

resident owners, and the use of more effective and
economical methods of producing sugar; as well as the
supplementing of decaying and unremunerative crops by
others, such as coffee, tobacco, cinchona, and cacao.

Prosperity begets prosperity, and by degrees and with wise
management there is no doubt that capital may be made to flow
back into Jamaica, and its natural resources may be developed,
whether they be agricultural or mineral. For probably before many
years have passed, the iron, copper, lead, zinc, and even coal, that
now remain unworked in its hills will be turned to good account, if
not by the Englishman or negro, at any rate by the Chinamen,
who, as soon as the Isthmus of Panama is pierced, will surely flow
through to this and the other West Indian islands in profuse
numbers.]

On leaving Spanish Town the road, which is good and hard, runs
for two or three miles on a perfect level, and is fenced on both
sides with the prickly pinguin hedge. The land did not seem
much cultivated ; here and there we observed a field dotted with
trees, under which cattle were grazing. But for the greater part of
this flat section of the road it was bordered by a wood composed
chiefly of acacia and logwood trees, in some places covered with
long grey beards of moss, in others with creepers, one like a great
convolvulus which ran to the tops of the trees and covered them
with festoons of purple lilac flowers. Wooden huts were scattered
amongst the trees, and negro liquor-shops.

Six miles out we passed the new irrigation works where the
stream, at a cost to Government of 80,000/., has been dammed
preparatory to being led off as required by canals over the arid

M 2

164 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

plains, and thus came after a drive of a couple more miles, to the
Bog Walk, an English corruption of Bocca Aqua or Water's Mouth.
It reminded us in its general effect very much of a Welsh valley,
with the stream called the Cobre, or Snake, from its serpentine
course winding and twisting about over rocks, and down what seems
to have been a cleft in the limestone mountains. The sides are of
moderate height, about 400 feet, and covered with woods of tree-
ferns, palms, and palmettoes with their broad fan-like leaves, the
bamboos being most conspicuous and ornamental : these noble
reeds, often fifty feet high, are exceedingly graceful and are grouped
like Prince of Wales's feathers. At one place there is a cliff of
fine perpendicular grey rock hanging out over the river, and round
the bottom of this the road is cut, but in most places it mounts
the ascent of the valley beside the descending torrent without
much difficulty. We picnicked about four miles up the pass, just
beneath the second iron bridge, where Captain Hart well (the head
of the police force) had constructed a long hut of bamboo and
greenery, down on the stones in the broad bed of the stream
where it was dry. Afterwards some of us walked up to the head
of the pass, which emerges into open fields of guinea-grass, and
others occupied themselves in shying at empty bottles floating
down the stream, or in sketching, until the time came for driving
back. The cool shade and the sound of the water running over
the boulders was most refreshing and most homelike. We drove
back in Mr. Levy's carriage (who is custos of Spanish Town) and
stopped at his house and " Pen " (as all country properties are called
out here), where a number of cattle, fine-looking beasts, were
grazing in his grounds. Then back by train to Kingston. Every-
thing very well arranged, and people, white, black and brown, very
enthusiastic in their demonstrations. After dinner at King's
House, there was some music and singing.

March 20th. — Started at 7 a.m., in the cool of the early morning
for Flamstead. We drove in carriages as far as " the gardens," a
large rest-house and stable 900 feet above the sea level, and there at
8 A.M. mounted on ponies and leaving the road which leads to New-
castle on the left, struck across the river bed and began to ascend
the hill. The path for most of the way is wide enough for two
horses to pass. It always runs by the side of a gorge dense with
intricate verdure of cotton -trees, palms, and broad-leaved bananas ;
creepers of countless varieties gracefully hang from bough to bough
and make of the whole one mass of delicate tracery. At the bottom

1880. JAMAICA— FLAMSTEAD. 165

below runs water leaping and lost in the close vegetation; for
Jamaica is a corruption of the old Indian name, Xaymaca, " the
land of springs/' and in each of these gorges bubbles and runs the
torrent. " He sendeth His springs into the valleys that run among
the hills." Here and there, both looking inland and also away to
sea, there are openings, and we had wide glimpses over a broader
extent of country than we have seen elsewhere since we left
England. Red and grey are the two colours which predominate
on the line of hills in the foreground, while the higher ones in the
centre of the island are a dark rich blue. Now and then the path
is steeper, and we canter on alone winding round precipices and
ever getting higher and higher. Flamstead is 4,000 feet above the
sea, and it took us two and a half hours' riding to get up there
from King's House. The air and the temperature at this height
is not tropical at all, and English flowers, fruits, and shrubs, the
common white clover, the violet, and the gorse and wild straw-
berry, grow here without the least difficulty. The temperature
falls about 1° for every 300 feet of ascent. The mean temperature
at Kingston is about 80°, but with two or three hours walk or ride,
a change of 15° can be had any day by coming up from the flat
plain on which Kingston stands; and with ordinary care English-
men may be as healthy here as at home, cr healthier; the plain
truth being that for nine months out of the twelve the climate in
the West Indies is simply perfect. There are many great houses on
estates that might be furbished up for winter resorts to yachtsmen
and their friends, who, whether they hail from the United States
or the United Kingdom, are beginning to recognise that a delight-
ful winter may be spent in the real warmth, magnificent scenery,
and interesting historical and local associations of the West Indies.
The Governor comes up here every year, from the Queen's birthday
to that of the Prince of Wales, which is the hottest season, and
as the wire is laid from Kingston there is no difficulty in carrying
on business. The Commodore's house is a pretty cottage within
200 yards distance from Flamstead ; the connecting path between
the two leads across a regular English garden. He has a heliograph
and blue-jacket signalman up here, by means of which he can flash
signals to, and receive them from, the dockyard any hour of the
day, as the sun is nearly always shining. George began working
this at once, and flashed to the dockyard " Many happy returns
of the day," to one of our messmates on board the Bacchante^
whose birthday it happened to be. The sensation of breathing

166 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

the keen light air up here is invigorating and delightful.
Along the whole of the south horizon stretches the hlue Carib-
bean Sea, with lines and wrinkles on its surface of wind and
current. Looking west we see Port Royal away at the end of
the white spit of the Palisades and the ships lying there ; on
the other side of the harbour to the north, with the sheen of the
sun on its grey surface, lies Kingston. Beyond Port Royal is Fort
Augusta and the Twelve Apostles, and the hne of low hills that
stretches between Kingston and Spanish Town. Turning to the
north, across the deep and broad network of wooded valleys (up one
of which we have come this morning), we see the white huts and
barracks for the troops at Newcastle, and the amphitheatre of hills
sweeping round above them eastwards.

After breakfast we walked with Mr. Musgrave and Dr. Lloyd to
Belle Vue, the house on the summit of the next hill, and called
on Dr. Steele and found him deep in a discussion with Mr. Tagget
(the civil engineer) on the drainage and water supply of Kingston
and Port Royal. Leaving them in the summer-house at the corner
of the grounds, we went a little way along the road at the back of
the house, from whence we got a wider view of the Blue Mountain
-range wiih its three summits, the Dome, John Crow (after the
great heavy black vultures so called here), and the Grand summit.
This ridge is the backbone of the island, running from east to
west. The highest peak is 7,100 feet. Then back to Flamstead, and
all about the garden, where we all much enjoyed lying and rolling
about on the turf, until at 4 p.m. we started to descend, and got
.back to King's House at 6.30 P.M. ; had a good bathe and then to
dinner, to which came Mr. Hockin, the new Attorney-General,
just arrived by to-day's mail from England. There was a cricket
match to-day, Army and Navy against the Kingston Club ; the
latter won easily. Some of the party who stayed the night at
Flamstead with the Commodore were uncommonly glad of two or
three blankets on their beds, so fresh was the air up there.

March 2lst. — The cocks have been crowing all night, and the
negroes have been hymn-singing just as persistently at a wake
which has been held in some hut close by. At 6.30 A.M. left King's
House, where Mr. Newton has so hospitably been entertaining us
and a large party from the ship for four days, said good-bye and
thanked him for all his kindness; then drove down to Kingston, found
the Commodore's launch at the pier, and started in her at 7 A.M.
down the harbour, perfectly calm in the lull between the land and sea

1880.

JAMAICA— POET ROYAL.

167

breezes, so that in the mirage at its mouth the diffs appeared
suspended above the water. Arrived on board at 8 A.M. Had
the usual services at 10.30 A.M. and 5 p.m. Coming back to the
ship it feels very hot and close after the airy rooms we have had
ashore.

JAMAICA TO BERMUDA.

Date.

From Pkevious Noun.

At Noon.

TEMPEKATUItE.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

ail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Mar.

Variable 1-2

...

N. 51 E.

N.E. 3-4

18-40

75-il

N. 1 E.

Variable 1-2

21-39

74-5

N. 15 E.

155

N.E. 4-5

24-8

73-30

N. 43 E.

159

N.E. 5-7

26-3

71-20

N. 42 E.

162

N.E. 4-5

28-3

69-19

28S.

N. 39 E.

215

S. 4-6

30-48

66-42

29
Tota

...

153

S. 7-8
s.

distance

1,000 mile

March 22nd. — Very warm indeed. It is often over 90° in the
cabin, as the iron sides of the glacis outside, which are painted
black, so soon become heated with the sun, and retain the heat a
long time. After sunset it is almost impossible to keep the
hand for any length of time laid against the iron beams inside.
Wrote letters for the mail and then lunched at the Commodore's.
Brought off a box of the land shells of Jamaica, and a lot of fern

168 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

things and photographs, and at 5 P.M. slipped from the buoy and
proceeded under steam out of the harbour. In the evening light
we thought the coast of Jamaica, on account of the red-grey and
violet hues on its clear-cut mountains, looked very like the
" purple crowned " hills behind and around Athens.

March 2Srd. — Steaming up the Windward Passage, but quite out
of sight of either Hayti or Cuba, the sea as smooth as glass, not a
breath of wind and intensely hot. Dropped a target overboard
and steamed round it all the morning firing shot and shell.
Passed two Portuguese men-of-war with their pink sails, making
their way slowly along. Began reading Lefroy's Memorials of
Bermuda, and Godet's little book on the same island. In the
evening at 9.30 P.M. observed Cuba on the port beam.

March 2Uh. — Just before sunrise this morning when Venus was
quite low, and just shining above a long line of cloud that skirted the
horizon, being on watch, could have been certain for a moment that
it was a lighthouse on an island, as the line of clouds had just the
appearance of land. Steaming along quietly all the day seven
knots. In the afternoon lowered a cutter, and ran Whitehead
torpedoes. Just before sunset sighted Castle Island Lighthouse,
and in the evening passed Crooked Island. As we are now clear
from the lee of the large island of San Domingo, we once more
get the north-east trade, and there is already a cooler and fresher
feeling in the air. After evening quarters had a turn at gymnastics
and felt all the better for it.

March 2oth. — At 1.10 P.M. lost sight of Bird Island light,
bearing south. As we are steaming north-east head to wind,
we are smothered in stokers ; the best place on the ship now
is the forecastle. Passed out of the tropics during the forenoon,
and came upon a large quantity of gulf-weed. Good-bye to the
West Indies.

Good Fridayy March 26th. — Divine service in the morning,
" make and mend clothes " in the afternoon ; short prayers after
evening quarters. At noon to-day made good 158 miles.

Haster Day, March 2Sth. — At 5.30 A.M, up top-gallant masts,
made plain sail, and at noon have made good 214 miles ; wind from
south-west, very cold. Extra singing at morning service ; most of
the hands who cared for them, having by this time their own
prayer-books and hymn-books. By evening we are drawing near
to Bermuda, but the island was not sighted. At 5.15 P.M. shortened
and furled sails ; dark, thick, blustering night, force of the wind 8.

1880.

JAMAICA TO BERMUDA.

169

March 2dih. — At 1.30 A.M. sighted the David Head light. A
windy, rainy and foggy morning; lost sight of Gibb's Hill light
at 2.30 A.M. Anchored off Lighthouse Point at 7.30 A.M. in twelve
fathoms. A negro pilot came off, better than Caliban. " Be not
afeard ; the isle is full of noises. Sounds and sweet airs that give
delight and hurt not" (Tempest, Act 3, Sc. ii.). After much
thunder and lightning the weather cleared. At 8.30 A.M. weighed
and proceeded slowly under steam through the " Narrows," past
St. George's and up to Grassy Bay, where we made fast to buoy.
In some parts this passage in through the coral reefs, which fringe
the whole of these islands, is so narrow that there is scarcely room
for a large vessel ; it is completely commanded by the heavy guns
at St. George's, and is carefully buoyed on either side ; if the buoys
were removed it would be next to impossible for an enemy's ship
to approach. In the afternoon the Bacchante received orders from
the Admiral to come into the Camber and make fast alongside at
a berth astern of the flagship, which accordingly we did in charge
of the harbour-master at 4.45 P.M. Found here the Northampton,
flag, Capt. J. Fisher ; Blanche, Capt. C. G. F. Knowles ; Contest,
Lieut.-Commander F. A. Moysey, and the fixtures Terror, Scorpion,
Viper, and Vixen.

AT BERMUDA.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

(i P.M.

March

S.W. 5-9

6°4

W. 7-9

April

W. 6-8

N.W. 7-8

N.W. 5-3

4S.

Variable 1

S.E. 1-3

S.W. 3-4

S.W. 6-6

S.W. 6-3

N.E. 2-4

S.W. 4-3

lis.

S.W. 6-8-2

S.W. 2-4

March SOth. — It is very jolly being alongside a stone wall for a
change and able to walk on shore from the ship. We got a run before

170 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

breakfast and saw some of the mids from the flagship. Went with
Capt. Fisher over the Northampton ; her great beam and fine roomy
gun-deck were particularly striking after the narrower and more
crowded Bacchante. In the afternoon walked all round Ireland,
saw the fives courts which are in the moat of the fort, and the
quoit ground, and then went on to the cemetery, which is very
prettily situated in a grassy dell beneath the shade of Bermudan
cedars, and so round by Somerset Ferry, home. The temperature
here is 63°, a most pleasing change from what we have lately
endured. A westerly gale with very heavy squalls of wind and
rain has been blowing all day and continued all night, as well as
the whole of Wednesday the 31st. H.M.S. Atalanta arrived on
January 29th, and sailed from this port on the 31st, two months
ago, for England. The crew were then in good health. [No
tidinsfs were ever received of her after that date. While we were
snug in harbour she went down this Easter week as likely as not,
stern foremost, in a sudden shift of wind in this very gale. Or
she may have capsized from the same reason that caused the loss
of the Captain and the l^urydice — want of stability at the larger
angles of heel. She had unusually heavy spars and masts nearly
the same as she would have carried had she had her ordinary sea-
going equipment on board as a cruising man-of-war. Her light
armament (she had only four guns on board instead of twenty-eight)
would also have conduced to a want of stability, as w^ould her being
minus the weight of shot required for the greater number, most of
which would ordinarily have been stowed below. These reasons are
sufficient to account for her loss. There may of course have been
others. The ship had an apparent stiffness under her canvas at
moderate angles of heel combined with a deficiency of stability at
large angles, which was the main source of danger in a vessel
heavily sparred, and that rolled and lurched so heavily as the
Atalanta unquestionably did. Fierce gales prevailed in the
Atlantic at that time, and a fine iron steamer, the Bay of Biscay ^
homeward bound from Rangoon, was not heard of after she was
spoken near the same spot where the Atalanta would probably have
been. A vast quantity of wreckage floating round the Azores attested
the severity of the weather in the Atlantic. Shipwreck seems in-
dissolubly connected with the history of "the still vexed Ber-
moothes." Sir Walter Raleigh in 1596 had spoken of the
Bermudas being " in a hellish sea, for thunder, lightning and
storms." In Hakluyt's voyages, 1600, there is a description of the

1880. BERMUDA— CLARENCE COVE. 171

shipwreck of Henry May here in 1593. Sir George Somers, in
1609 sailing to Virginia, ran ashore here, and it was from the
account published in the following year, "A Discovery of the
Barmudas, otherwise called the Isle of Divils," by one of the crew,
that Shakespeare probably obtained the scenery and local setting
for The Temjpest, in which, after the shipwreck, " The first man
that leaped ashore cried, ' Hell is empty, and all the devils are
here ' '' (Act 1, Sc. i.). Waller, who once lived here, wrote a curious
and amusing poem minutely describing the islands and their pro-
ducts, as also did Thomas Moore.] Bacchante finished coaling to-day.
We went across to Clarence Cove and called on the Admiral and
Lady McClintock, and then on the Governor, Sir Robert Laffan.
Back to the Admiral's, where we had a good game of lawn-tennis,
and returned in the steam pinnace across Grassy Bay to the
dockyard.

Ainil 1st. — Still very squally, but got a walk round the dock-
yard island, visiting especially the site of the new Club for Seamen
and Marines ; it is below the naval hospital, but will have a fine
lookout over Harrington Sound. The place is both cool and
sheltered. It would be impossible to have found a better site ;
one not too far from the dockyard for the convenience of men from
the ships, and yet far enough for them to feel free. The Governor
gave his dinner in honour of the Admiral's arrival on the station.
We both went to stay at Clarence Cove with Sir Leopold McClintock.
There was a cricket match to-day, BacchaiUe against Blanche, Terror,
and Contest ; Bacchante, first innings, 44 ; second, 22 for six wickets ;
Blanche, Terror, Contest, first innings, 42 ; second, 23 ; Bacchante
winning by four wickets.

April 2nd. — Up early and down to the caves at Clarence Cove,
to bathe before breakfast with the flag lieutenant. Van Koughnet.
At 10.15 A.M., Sir Robert Laffan came on horseback, and we joined
him, and he

" show'd us all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile,"

— Tempest, Act 1, Sc. ii.

We first passed along the north road by the sea till we came to the
American Consul's (Mr. Allen), where we saw^ the angel fish (bright
blue), the cowfish (bright red), and other oddities in his aquarium.
Then to the Devil's Hole, a weird sort of natural tank used as a
fish-reservoir, where fish that have been netted are kept till
required. It is a cave (such as that in which Caliban was styed)

172 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

the entrance of which only is visible here, but it runs right
through to the sea on the south side of the island, for the
tide rises and falls in it with the sea outside, and its waters
have no connection with those of Harrington Sound, although they
are within a stone's throw of its beach. We were then to have
gone to the Sand Hills, but missed the way. The fragrance of
the cedar trees in the sun is very strong.

** The air breathes upon us here most sweetly."

*****
*' The ground indeed is tawny,
With an eye of green in 't," — Tempest, Act 2, Sc. i.

where widespread brackish marshes are overgrown with coarse
grass, rushes and mangrove jungle. There are five soils in
the island, a light red soil, a reddish clayey soil, sand, a dark
calcareous soil, and peat. We saw Spanish Point from the
road ; on the front of the rock is the old inscription " 1543,"
cut by some old buccaneer. The first European eyes that rested
on these islands were those of Bermudez, a Spaniard, before
1515. They were not colonised till after 1609, from Queen
Elizabeth's Virginia, and from England. We passed the stone
walls of many substantial houses by the water's side now in ruins.
These were the homes of the old sea captains, in the days when
Bermuda cedar ships traded to Newfoundland, the West Indies
and elsewhere. One boat of three tons with five persons in her
succeeded in crossing the Atlantic from Bermuda to Ireland in
1616; but most of them were from 200 to 800 tons burden.
They used to carry the salt fish of Newfoundland to Italy and
Portugal, and take back the port-wine for which Newfoundland
became celebrated, or run down to Madeira and Ascension to meet
the homeward-bound Indian fleet, and take back cargoes of tea or
other Indian and Chinese products to be distributed along the
American seaboard. Some of the gardens round their now deserted
houses contain the flower seeds which these old fellows brought
home from all countries. It was steam that was the death-warrant
of their carrying trade. Then on through the town of Hamilton
in front of the Government buildings and lines of stores, each
with an open piazza in front two or three yards wide, supported
by slender pillars ; and so home to Clarence Cove. After lunch
went down into the long caves by the sea with the Admiral,
who told us of his early days under Lord Dundonald, and spoke
of his three predecessors in command of this station — Sir Cooper

1880. BERMUDA -GIBE'S HILL. 173

Key (who had just gone home), Admiral Fanshawe (who was
at the College when we passed as naval cadets), and Admiral
Wellesley (who succeeded Sir Hastings Yelverton as first Sea Lord
when we first entered the service). He showed us, too, the
*' midshipman's garden " and grave, and the many flowers and
plants which are reared from the seeds which each admiral brings
back here from his cruise " round the islands." We then went along
the tunnelled passage through the sandstone, which runs down and
under the road and comes out into the kitchen garden beyond.
There was a fancy dress dance at the Governor's from 5 to 9.30 P.M.
to which we went. The mids of the Northampton came as blue-
jackets in whites ; one of the clerks was very effective as the '' Mad
Hatter" from Alice in Wonderland, and another was dressed in
ghastly fashion, so that his head with its rolling eyes and grizzly
beard appeared to be set on the wrong way; two officers of the
artillery made a very good Irish peasant and girl, the former
singing some Irish songs, while some of the officers of the 99th
Regiment, which had just come up from the Cape, appeared in the
full dress of naked Zulu warriors with shields and assegais. We
slept that evening again at Clarence Cove. Cricket match to-day,
bluejackets of Bacchante v. those of the Northampton. Bacchante
(ship's company) first innings 83, second innings 58 ; Northampton
(ship's company) first innings 42, second innings 12 for five
wickets ; Bacchante thus beating the flagship on the first innings.
April Srd. — Bathed before breakfast at the caves, Clarence
Cove; and then started in a dogcart with Mr. Carpenter (the
Governor's aide-de-camp), and drove through Hamilton to Gibb's
Hill Lighthouse, up which we went to the top. The lighthouse is
130 feet high and stands on the highest point in the islands, 245
feet above the sea level. From outside the lantern you get the best
view over the whole of the group of islands (said to be 365 in
number). They stretch in a rough semicircle, from Ireland on
the left or western extremity, where the masts of the men-of-war
lying at anchor are visible, then on past Somerset Island, then
all up Harrington Sound past Hamilton, and so right away to
St. George's on the right or eastern extremity, twenty miles from
Ireland at the other. We are now standing therefore on the
southernmost point of the whole group ; looking away due north across
the Bay, it is all apparently open sea, but in reality one large mass
of coral-reef, over the greater portion of which there is but three
or four feet of water, though there are deeper channels here and

174 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

there amid the reefs. Looking down from where we stand we can
also perceive the formation of the whole group, and understand
how they are the point of the huge pinnacle which rises sheer
up from the bottom of the Atlantic; whether it be the point
of a volcano afterwards incrusted by coral insects, or formed by
other means. The ChaUenger took four soundings in the Atlantic
between Halifax and Madeira above 3,000 fathoms. The deepest
of all was off Bermuda, where the lead sank four miles and a half.
Down this enormous depth sinks the side of the Bermudas, in a
sheer precipice grander far than the Matterhorn and probably the
hugest on the globe. We are therefore now standing on an insular
platform on the summit of a peak 15,000 feet high at least from
the bottom of the Atlantic. Such a peak could only be formed
by coral growth, and therefore the structure of Bermuda shows
a progressive subsidence of the bed of the Atlantic here. As
soon as the head of the original mountain was covered by the sea
the coral growth began ; and this platform has been kept at the
sea level by a growth at the summit continued at a rate equal to
that of the subsidence of the base. This platform of coral reef
forms an uneven top to the peak, of oval form, whose longest
diameter from east to west is twenty-five miles, and the breadth
twelve miles. The external lip of this oval ring — which measures
about fifty miles in circuit — whether composed of islands or of
sunken reefs — is seldom more than a mile in width, but the wide
expanse of 120 square miles of inclosed water which it encircles is
broken up and diversified by numberless smaller reefs and ledges of
coral, which render the internal navigation extremely intricate and
dangerous to all but experienced pilots. At present the southern
lip only of the great oval is formed of islands ; the northern, '
eastern, and western sides are almost continuous reefs of coral,
which inclose the expanse of water, the only practicable entrance
to which is through a narrow tortuous passage on the eastern side
at the distance of about half a mile from the shore. This channel
is about two miles in length and is very intricate, so that vessels
must move through it very slowly, and with great caution. It is
commanded throughout its whole length (as are also the approaches
to it from either side) by numerous batteries mounting heavy guns
behind casemated iron shields. In war time the channel would
also be defended by torpedoes or submarine mines. No hostile
cruiser could approach within five miles of the dockyard in
Ireland without having first made her way through the encircling

1880. BERMUDA. 175

reefs. There are between three and four hundred islands ; the
central one, on which Hamilton stands, is fifteen miles long, and
two of the others are three miles long, but most of them are so
small that they are scarcely more than patches of sand collected
on the pieces of coral-reef which protrude here and there above
the water. This, owing to its being so shallow, is of the brightest
blue, and is fringed all round its edge with a white sandy beach,
the "yellow sands" of Ariel's song. Here and there are a few
palms, but not many, for nearly every spot in the island available
for cultivation is planted with potatoes, onions, tomatoes, beet-
root, and other garden produce, which is shipped for the early
and winter markets of the United States; on which in return
these islands are entirely dependent for their food supply of
bread and meat, so that any interruption to their intercourse with
the neighbouring continent would cause great temporary distress.
We drove back to the Governor's, past several pretty houses standing
in their own grounds and gardens. Apparently the only tree that
flourishes in these islands is the Bermudan cedar, the wood of
which is hard and brittle ; it never imbibes moisture, and hence it
is good for boat-building, but not for furniture on account of its
being so difficult to carve. '' The cloven pine " in which Ariel was
confined by his mother who had been left on this island by sailors
was probably one of these trees, when Prospero " made gape the
pine" and let him out ; and its "berries" were those that were put in
water for Caliban (Act 1, Sc. ii.). The oleander shrub, with its pink
blossoms, appears to be equally plentiful in the gardens and round
the edges of the water, but of course is useless except for wicker-
work. There is also a quantity of prickly pear growing luxuriantly,
but it is not turned to account by the cultivation of the cochineal
insect on it. This cultivation we saw at Teneriffe, whence up-
wards of 60,000Z. worth of this valuable dye is annually exported
(p. 42). The only two native birds still here are the little ground
doves (who are being elbowed out by the sparrows that were
introduced by a former Governor), and the bright plumaged " blue
birds,'' a sort of great thrush ; these also, we were told, will
probably in a few years find it difficult to gather food to support
themselves against the sparrows. Another Governor introduced
the sage plant, which now seeds itself in every garden in the
island, and from being a benefit has become a noxious nuisance.

We stopped in Hamilton and went inside the cathedral, which,
although at present incomplete, is a lofty and well-designed church,

176 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

and already contains some very good windows of stained glass from
England ; to-day it was prettily decorated with flowers for Easter.
Leaving the cathedral we called at the bishop's (he is bishop of
Newfoundland and Bermuda), and drove on up the old cedar avenue,
and past the church with a square tower just outside Government
House grounds. There are nine parishes in all in Bermuda, but
only five livings. Each incumbent officiates in two churches.
About 70 per cent, of the white and Qo per cent, of the coloured
population belong to the Church of England. The total population
of the islands is 5,300 white, and 8,500 coloured. The approach
to Government House at Mount Langton is through a steep
cleft cut in the rock, each side of which is now covered with
creepers and other flowers. We played lawn-tennis on the shady
lawn in front of the house, and afterwards walked round the garden
with Sir Robert Laffan, who being an old Engineer officer has taken
great pleasure in laying out the grounds to the best advantage.
On the slopes of the hillside he has made many terrace walks,
and has used the two caves under the hill for ferneries, and shady
retreats, in which many English plants are able to grow and flourish
even through the Bermudan summer.

As we watched the banana tree in flower — its crown of leaves
falling over the fat green stem in curves — the Governor pointed out
how the whorls of green or golden fingers (below which dangles the
purple spike) are not a fruit at all but really a large flower ; each
banana is the petal of a blossom, and when the blossom is first formed
this is very clearly manifest. One plant bears only one flower (or
bunch of bananas), and having put forth its strength thus it dies; each
plant only lives one year, but during this time has produced on its one
stem thirty to sixty pounds of bananas. The banana is indeed the
staff of life : but the much-abused cocoa-nut cannot come near it as
a devil's agent. The cocoa-palm is confined to the tropics and sea-
levels ; and asks some labour — though not much. The banana grows
as a weed and hangs down its branches of ripe tempting fruit into
your lap as you lie in its cool shade. The cocoa-nut has a hundred
uses, and urges man to work to make spirit from its juice, ropes,
clothes, matting, bags, from its fibre, oil from the pulp ; it creates
an export trade which appeals to almost all men in offering large
and quick returns for little work. But the banana will make
nothing ; you can eat it raw or fried, you can eat it every day of
your life without becoming tired of its taste, without suffering in
your health ; you can live on it exclusively. The plentiful possession

1880. BERMUDA— MOUNT LANGTON. 177

of this tree has been fatal to industry and exertion for multitudes
in the West Indies.

On the top of this hill Sir R. LafFan has constructed a wooden
erection, from the summit of which he can obtain a view not only-
over the whole of the islands, but can also overtop the Admiral's
lookout, whence signals are made across to the flagship and dock-
yard on Ireland, from Clarence Cove which lies just beneath. The
woodwork is arranged skeleton- wise so as to stand against the high
winds which sometimes prevail here, when if it were a solid mass
it would be blown away. His Excellency then explained his theory
of the formation of Bermuda. He supposes that the pinnacle from
the bottom of the Atlantic is formed entirely of sand, and that its
foundation originated from the swirl of the gulf-stream and other
ocean currents, and so gradually rose higher and higher. The
greatest angle at which sand will rest when thus piled up is one of
45°, and he stated that this was the angle at which the pinnacle
rises from the ocean bed. Be this as it may, the formation at any
rate of the portion that is above the sea level can daily be seen taking
place. The sand which thus accumulates is composed of very
small shells. The action of saline particles from the sea causes an
incrustation of lime of two or three inches in thickness to form on
the surface of one layer of this sand before a new one is deposited
by a second storm, and this appears to be the cause why nearly all
the rock lies in thin laminae. This fact also explains why layers of
dark coloured vegetable mould are found below white rock. The
transition of the coral and shell sand cast on the shore by the
waves and winds may thus be traced through various stages, even
till it becomes crystalline limestone. This is quite soft when first
uncovered, but exposure to the atmosphere so acts upon the lime
that the whole mass hardens into a friable stone. This white
granular limestone formed by the metamorphosis of the coral is
everywhere met with in various degrees of hardness : it will well
withstand rain and damp when coated over with cement. After
lunch with the Governor we returned to Clarence Cove in time
for Lady McClintock's first " at home," or garden party, for lawn-
tennis, dancing, &c. There were two bands playing, one indoors
and one out. To this there came not only many naval ojSicers,
but also those of the Royal Artillery, and of the 16th and 99th
Regiments. Several Americans also came, who happened to be
staying at the hotel in Hamilton. This is a very good house,
although it is only open for the four winter months, from
VOL. I. N

178 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

December to March, and is closed during the other eight ; when
it is open there are generally about 200 Americans staying in
it at one time. The Bermudas are in fact the relics of the
old North American colonial possessions of Great Britain, just as
the Channel Islands are of our French possessions. The distance
from the nearest point in North Carolina is only 580 miles, and from
New York 677. Left at 6 P.M. in the steam pinnace, and returned
across the bay with the rest of the officers to the Bacchante in the
Camber.

April 4>th. — Roman Catholics to early mass. The officers and
men of the Northampton all marched to church with their band
playing, to the dockyard chapel : we had our service on the main
deck. Went to lunch afterwards with Captain Moresby, senior
officer in charge of the Dockyard Establishment. He entertained
us with yarns of his own proceedings in New Guinea, and showed
us his book on the same island, as well as many curiosities he had
there collected, and also others that had belonged to his father,
Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby. He reminds us very much of his
brother, who was paymaster in the Britannia the whole time we
were there. In the afternoon, Captain Fisher kindly took us in his
galley right up the bay towards Gibbs' Lighthouse ; we landed at
Somerset Ferry, in an old graveyard, where were many curious old
tombs of the early settlers and some of the convicts (who were em-
ployed on Boaz Island on Government work, but are now all with-
drawn), and walked back in time for five o'clock service on board
the Bacchante,

April oth. — At 11.30 A.M. went on board the old dockyard ten-
der, Viper ^ with a party of officers from the Northampton and
the Bacchante, Captain Knowles of the Blanche, Captain Fisher
and the Staff-command er of the flagship, Captain Moresby and
Staff-commander Clapp. We first steamed across and picked
up the Admiral and party at Clarence Cove, and the Governor and
his people, and then went right out across the bay to North Rock,
the course to which amid the coral reefs had been carefully buoyed
out by Captain Moresby yesterday. We could scarcely have had a
better day for seeing the reefs, as there is just sufficient and not too
much sunlight. The patches of the reefs show out as dark spots
under the water, with light green strips round and between
them where there is a sandy bottom. We proceed through one or
two very narrow passages, going very slowly, and in the last the old
Viper crumbled a few inches of the brittle top off the edge of the

1880. BERMUDA— NORTH ROCK. 179

reefs. We approached within a cable's length of the North Eock,
and then got into the steam pinnaces, which we had been towing
astern, and from them landed on it. It consists of three or four
jagged brown sandstone teeth, that stand up a dozen or fifteen
feet above the water and rise from a widespread and submerged
stone plateau in the midst of the northern reefs. These brown
rocks are geologically older than any portion of Bermuda now
visible, and are the remains of an older island that once existed,
on the northern lip of the oval top of the Bermudan ocean peak,
but which is now all gone. The reef round them on which we
landed is covered by the sea at high water. We had brought
sea glasses (funnels of wood about a yard long, with a piece of
plate-glass at the lower end), which you dip into the water, and
looking down through these over the side of the pinnace, we
had a good gaze at the bottom. There we saw lilac coloured wavy
fans, and large lumps of white brain coral, with pearl oysters
amongst them, and sea anemones of all sorts, and other branches
of coral of every shape and size. Amongst and on them all kinds
of seaweed of every hue — black, green, red, bronze, pink, yellow
— were growing. Owing to the clearness of the water the smallest
motion of the many coloured fish roaming through the delicate
fronds of coral and in and out amongst the weed could be dis-
tinctly observed, we noticed three kinds, the first was the " yellow
tail," which is pale azure on the back and pearly white below with
broad bands of yellow along each side ; the next was " the spotted
snapper," which also carries these yellow bands, only his body is
white, his fins rosy pink, and each flank has a great oval patch
of black ; and the third kind had yellow fins, and scarlet spots all
over the body ; in fact, the reefs support quite a fairy world of
their own. This is the spot of which Ariel sings to Ferdinand after
his shipwreck here : —

" Full fathom five thy father lies ;
Of his bones are coral made ;
Those are pearls that were his eyes ;

Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea -nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Hark ! now I hear them —
Ding-dong, bell." Tempest, Act 1, Sc. ii.

Some of the party had some good sport fishing, and caught
rockfish; one large fellow, of over fifty pounds weight, was
hauled in over the stern of the Viper whilst she was lying

N 2

180 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

to. We got on board the Viper again, and started at 4.30 P.M. to
return. As we steamed back into the bow of the bay there was a
most striking view of the whole semicircular group of the islands,
from St. George's at the east end, to the dockyard on Ireland at
the other. You see, too, how they are blown sand hills, knolls with
wide flat stretches in between. The wind, what little there is
to-day, is from the west, and produces almost too much ruffle
on the water for seeing the reef to full advantage : an absolutely
calm still day is what is wanted ; but it is difficult to arrange to
have one of these that will also suit with the spring tides. Very
often there are not two such in the whole year, so we may con-
sider ourselves on the whole very lucky. We landed the admiral
and his party at the Ducking Stone, and got back to the dockyard
at 6.30 P.M., after one of the most enjoyable days we have ever
spent. The Viper draws eleven feet ; nothing of the same draught
has been out where we went to-day for a very long time, if ever
before. There was a cricket match this afternoon : the officers of
the Bacchante, v. the Ireland and Boaz Island eleven ; these last
got 106, the Bacchante 26, and in the second innings 36, with seven
wickets to fall,

April Qth. — In the afternoon we and a party of mids went
ashore in the dockyard for instruction. We were taken over the
floating dock (towed out from England in the summer of 1869),
and the various parts of the machinery connected with it were
explained to us. There was a cricket match between our
ship's company and that of the Blanche, which our men won by
sixty-two runs : this match was played away on Somerset Island.
On the other cricket ground an officers' match was played at
the same time — Navy v. Army. Army first innings, 108. Navy
first innings, 29 ; second innings, 50.

April 7th. — The wind having gone round to the south-west
for the last three days, has had the effect of sending the ther-
mometer up several degrees, and makes the air feel heavy and
muggy ; just as Caliban describes the same warm oppressiveness
(which is more striking in the summer months) — "a south-west
blow on ye And blister ye all o'er ! " Act. 1, Sc. ii. Alternate
north-westerly and south-westerly winds prevail in Bermuda
during nine months of the year ; the wind remaining at no
other point for any length of time. When it is north-west there
is fine hard weather with clear sky and a low temperature.
This ends in a very fine bright day with calms ; afterwards the

1883. BERMUDA— ST. GEORGE'S. 181

wind invariably goes round to south-west when the thermometer
rises and heavy rains ensue. At 1 p.m. the Admiral and
Governor, with their family parties, came over from Clarence Cove
and lunched on board the Bacchante, Afterwards two outrigger
torpedoes were fired from the steam pinnace, inside the Camber.
The concussion produced was more than was expected. Admiral
left the ship at 3.30 p.m. Some of the officers went to an afternoon
party given by the 99th Regiment at Prospect, but not many, as
the weather was very rough and boisterous. We two walked out to
Captain Moresby's, and had a capital game of bowls in the alley
which he has erected on a little island near his house, and across
to which he has thrown a bridge from his garden.

A'pHl 8th. — H.M.S. Plover arrived from Jamaica and Nassau
(in the Bahamas). After the usual morning school, at 1 p.m. a
party of officers from the different ships went on board the Viper
and steamed across the bay to Ferry Point, after having picked up
the Admiral and Governor at Clarence Cove. At Ferry Point we
left the Viper, and getting into the steam pinnaces, which had been
towed astern, we went up the inner bay to Joyce's Point, where
we landed on the rocks and clambered ashore. We descended first
into the island cave, where, through the smoke caused by the blue-
lights, we were able to discern a large sheet of water in the centre
of the cave, and many stalactites much broken. It is a long cave,
with two entrances, like that of which Stephano says in the
Tempest (Act 2, Sc. ii.), '' my cellar is in a rock by the seaside, where
my wine is hid." Thence to the next cave, to approach which
ladders were needed, and the stalactites in which are better than
those in the one we had just left : they are thinner and more
delicately formed, and resemble coils of rope or the intertwining
roots of trees growing downwards. His Excellency explained how,
according to his theory, a similar formation of stalactites is going
on through the sand beneath ; and " so we see how strong is the
foundation on which the island rests rooted." There is a third and
similar series of caves at Walsingham, a little further on, but these
we did not visit ; but getting into the steam pinnaces again from the
spot on which Prince Alfred landed, we proceeded up St. George's
Harbour, through the swing bridge and causeway, to St. George's.
The view looking thence into Castle Harbour shows some small
fir-covered islands, on the summit of one of which, in the distance,
are the ruins of a castle. We first steam past the town of St. George's
to Fort Cunningham, where Colonel Stokes, in command of the

182 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

artillery, took us up the bill and over the large iron casemated fort
with the 18-ton guns that command the entrance to the Narrows.
Standing on the summit of the fort we saw a charge of 250 pounds
of guncotton exploded under the " Boilers," a reef at the entrance
of St. George's Harbour, which was thus, with a fine cataract of
water, then and there removed by Colonel Gordon, in command of
the Royal Engineers. St. George's harbour is probably the " deep
nook " (Act 1 , Sc. ii.) where Ariel describes the king's ship to be safely
in harbour, " tight and yare and bravely rigg'd as when She first put
out to sea." Presenting as it does a wide area of land-locked water,
with a good holding ground, and being easy of access from the
ocean with which it communicates direct instead of opening as does
the harbour of Hamilton into an inclosed inland sea, St. George's
harbour is frequently crowded during the winter months by large
merchant vessels seeking shelter during bad weather, or requiring
repairs after storms, or being in want of fresh provisions or water.
We came down the hill from Fort Cunningham, got into the
boats again, and rowed back to St. George's, where we disembarked,
and walked up to the barracks of the 19 th (Princess of Wales's
Own) Regiment. Here Lieutenant-Colonel Vigors showed us in the
messroom the silver statuette of the Princess of Wales presenting
new colours to the regiment at Sheffield. These to-day we saw
and handled ; the old colours are at Sandringham, though a few
fragments of them are still carefully preserved in a case by the
regiment. Then we walked through the town to St. Peter's church,
where the rector met and showed us the curious old communion
plate given by William III. to the church, on which the lion of the
House of Orange is borne on a shield of pretence in the centre of
the English arms ; and some plate still older than this, with the
arms of Bermuda engraved on the bottom ; and another fine set
of old silver, consisting of two or three large basons, a paten, a
chalice, a cup and strainer ; and besides these some more silver
christening bowls of a more modern date. " In that very place
which we now call St. George's toune this noble knight Sir George
Somers died, whereof the place taketh the name, but his men, as
men amazed seeing the death of him who was even as the life of
them all, embalmed his body and set sail for England. The cedar
ship of thirty tons with his dead body arrived at last at Whit-
church in Dorsetshire, where by his friends he was honourably
buried with many voUies of shot and the rites of a souldier." That
was in 1611 ; he was then eighty years of age. His heart was

1880. BEEMUDA. 183

buried at St. George's, which was the old capital and seat of
government till 1815. It was here too that Thomas Moore
the poet, in 1804, resided when he held an appointment in the
Admiralty Prize Court. The Admiral stopped to dine with
the regiment ; most of the party returned in the Viper, and
arrived in the dockyard at Ireland by 7.30 P.M. In the
evening we went to a performance of the Bacchante's Christy
Minstrels, in the theatre erected for such performances ashore.
The place was filled with many officers, both from our own and
other ships, and the proceeds were intended for the benefit of
J. Cowley, who had been left in hospital at Barbados. Cricket-
match this afternoon between the Bacchante and an eleven of
the Northampton, Blanche, and Contest. Bacchante, first innings,
eleven. The three ships, first innings, forty-eight ; second innings,
forty-two.

April 0th. — At school all the forenoon. At 1 p.m. left ship in
steam pinnace for Clarence Cove, where Mr. Carpenter met us with
horses from Mount Langton, whither we rode, and after picking up
the Governor, went on to Mount Prospect. Into the messroom
of the 99th (Duke of Edinburgh's Own) Regiment, and saw their
Zulu trophies. Then mounting again rode on to the meet of the
paper-chase. Of this we saw the finish at Mount Langton, where
there was some very good jumping arranged; after which there
was a garden party at the Governor's ; then walked to Clarence
Hill, and, after a quiet supper with the Admiral, slept there.
H.M.S. Tamar arrived.

April lO^A. — Bathed before breakfast down in the caves and
played lawn-tennis afterwards, at which the Admiral's jolly little
boy joined us. After lunch Lady McClintock had her usual
Saturday " at home " and garden party. Some of the Northampton
mids came and we bathed with them down in the caves again, so
did one or two of the officers of the 99th Regiment. Then said
good-bye to Sir Leopold and Lady McClintock, and thanked them
for all their very great kindness to us during our stay at Bermuda.
Return cricket match Bacchante v. Northampton. Bacchante, first
innings ninety-nine ; second innings nine and ten wickets to fall.
Northampton, first innings sixty-nine; second innings forty-nine.
H.M.S. Tamar left for England.

April \lth. — At 10 A.M., Bishop Llewellyn Jones of Newfound-
land and Bermuda came on board and preached at our morning
service, after which there was a collection for the Seamen and

184 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Marines Orphan Schools at Portsmouth, for which he got
£8 ll5. Sd. After service we both went with him on board the
Northampton, over which Captain Fisher took us and showed us all
his new dodges, then lunched with him and returned to the ship.
In the afternoon walked to the bathing -place through the dockyard.
Mail came in and brought the news of Mr. Gladstone having beaten
the captain's brother, Lord Dalkeith, in the election for Midlothian.
The mails come by way of New York and Halifax, the last of
which places is 730 miles distant. There is no direct mail to
England ; neither is there any telegra'phic communication with this
important military and naval outpost. The government of the
Bermudas is administered by the Governor and a local parliament
of two houses. The upper consists of ten members, nominated by
the crown, the lower of thirty-six members, elected four from each
of the nine parishes. There are only 854 electors, the qualification
for a vote being possession of freehold of 60/. value. One twelfth of
the revenue of the island is devoted to the payment of the members,
which is at the rate of about 2s. a head of the population. Most
of the Acts are only of " temporary " duration, and, therefore, have
to be renewed after due debate. The pay of the members of the
upper and lower house is 8s. a day when on duty. This con-
stitution dates from before the time of our own Long Parliament,
1620.

April 12th. — Cast off and proceeded out of Camber at 8.30 A.M.
and at 9.45 A.M. made fast to buoy in Grassy Bay. At school all
the forenoon ; after the dinner hour went away in the steam
pinnace, towing a cutter full of blue-jackets and marines, and so
landed at the hospital and marched up to the site of their new Club ;
it was windy but the sun was shining and the rain held off. The
Governor and the Admiral with their several parties came, and the
latter made a very good speech, saying how each of his immediate
predecessors had entertained a hope of establishing this Club for
the use of the Seamen and Marines of the fleet. He then gave an
account of how matters had hitherto gone, what progress had been
made, and what good hope there was now of its success, and ended
up by saying " may God bless this club to every seaman and ship
using it." We both then laid the stone and the Bishop of New-
foundland gave the benediction. When it was all over we took
a final walk by ourselves through the well-kept garden cemetery,
and wandering along its tree-shaded paths had a farewell look at
the many interesting monuments it contains : all of these are more

1880. BERMUDA. 185

or less bright with flower-beds round them, rose and geranium
trees hang in clusters over several. Many have been sent out from
England, and erected by the officers and men of various ships in
memory of their comrades whom they may have lost during their
commissions on this station. We picked some of the air-plants
which were attaching themselves in plenty to the trees there;
so vivacious are they that a leaf placed any where will grow,
and does not require water or any further care. A leaf suspended
from the beam in our cabin throve and grew, and put forth fresh
leaves and tendrils from the edges of the old ones. We brought
several sprigs home, they continued green and fresh and flourishing
long after we arrived in England. Called in at Captain Moresby's,
thanked him for all he had done for us, then off in the pinnace
from the spot in the Camber where the Bacchante had previously
been moored. When we arrived on board the officers made a
collection for the Club and collected in all £42 76'. Qd. The Queen
and the Prince and Princess of Wales afterwards sent out from
England their portraits with autographs, "in memory of April
12th, 1880," for the club-room.

April ISth. — At 11 A.M. the German corvette Medusa arrived
and anchored in Grassy Bay. Slipped from the buoy at 11.45 A.M.
and steamed out through the Narrows. The flagstaffs both at
Clarence Cove and at Mount Langton signalled, '' good-bye, pleasant
passage," and so we bade good-bye to Bermuda ; bright, cheery
memories of which will ever remain with us. We have been here
a fortnight, a longer time than we have spent in any one port
since we left England. Standing on tbe poop we lost sight of
the lighthouse at 5.10 p.m. ; as we began pitching to the Atlantic
swell. The next land we hope to sight is that of England,
now 3,000 miles away.

April \^th. — No wind at all, long swell setting in and we are
rolling a bit ; sighted one sail going westward ; steaming all day
5'8 knots and by noon have made 130 miles. Distance from Lizard
Light 2,734 miles.

April 16th. — Not a breath of wind. This morning altered
course from east by north to north by east, to look for an Italian
steamer from Palermo, that is supposed to be drifting about disabled
according to the last mail received in Bermuda.

To-day is Thursday, which on board a man-of-war is generally a
half-holiday for all hands. Dinner is as usual at noon (eight bells),
after which, when the arms have been cleaned and the decks cleared

186

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.
BERMUDA TO PORTSMOUTH.

1880.

Date.

From Previous

Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distil

nee.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Wind.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

April

N.W. 8-3

...

N. 72 E.

133

Variable 1

33-1

62-h

N. 62 E.

136

N. 1

34-5

69-48

N. 47 E.

113

Variable 1-2

35-22

58-7

N. 69-30

E.
N. 69 E.

...

162

N.W. 3

36-18

18S.

121

S.W. 4-5

37-11

52-2

K 70 E.

193

S.W. 7

48-10

N. 72 E.

102

Squalls 10
S.W. 5-1

38-47

45-58

K 60 E.

129

39-53

43-36

N. 55 E.

S.E. 4
S.E. 5-8

...

K 58 E.

125

S.E. 7-4

42-0

39-18

N. 64 E.

162

S. 5-3

43-11

25S.

N. 68 E.

149

S.W. 4-8

;2-47

N. 69 E.

107

S.W. 8, N.W.
3, 8, 1-2

44-53

29-53

N. 69 E.

245

S.W. 5-7

46-27

23-52

N. 63 E.

164

...

S. 6-7
S.E. 3-4

47-42

:20-18

N. 70 E.

121

S.E. 2-3

48-31

17-0

N. 77 E.

194

E.S. 3-4

49-14

12-9

May

N. 82 E.

194

KE. 4

2S.

220

E. 1-2 .

49-40

7-30

...

N. 1

50-31

2-0

1170

1849

Total (listanc

e... 30

19 mi

les.

1880. "HANDS MAKE AND MEND CLOTHES." 187

up, and when three bells (1.30 P.M.) has been struck on the bell on
the maindeck by the sentry, the boatswains pipe " Hands make
and mend clothes ! " Part of the instruction of boys and young
seamen is tailoring, and almost every man can therefore make his
own clothes. But naturally there are some who have a greater
gift that way than others, and these are able to lend a helping
hand to their shipmates in cutting out or embroidering, or in
fitting bright fancy linings to their caps, or sleeves of jackets. Any
little distinctive mark which will not interfere with a man's
regulation uniform, such as these individual decorations, a blue-
jacket is very fond of. On this afternoon then, the men get out
their clothes' bags and overhaul them. But besides his black
sack-like bag of clothes, (each of which is numbered, and stowed
away when not being used in racks along the flats,) the seaman has
also his " ditty box," something like a small writing desk only of
plain white deal. He carries the key on his knife lanyard, and
the box itself is kept stowed between the beams over his mess.
It is the only place a sailor has under lock and key ; there he
keeps his needles and thread, his buttons, his money and his
letters, the photograph of his mother and sister, or sweetheart ;
all his little home relics and any small gifts he may be bringing
home from foreign parts. If, therefore, you go forward between
the hours of 2 and 4 P.M. on a Thursday you will find all the men
more or less thus engaged. On the upper deck some will be sitting
or lying on the hatchways, doing a bit of sewing at their clothes ;
others will be reading well-thumbed copies of favourite books from
the ship's library, or popular tales lent them by a messmate ; others
will be standing about the foc'sle chatting or smoking. Down below
on the mess deck others again are grouped around the mess tables
occupied at their sewing, or writing, or overhauling the treasures
of their ditty boxes ; others stretched at full length on the decks or
forms will be asleep. Over the cables away at one end of this
deck, the two tables, which the first lieutenant has been good
enough to arrange for the men as a sort of reading room, are
unslung from overhead, and rigged up, and on them the school-
master, who acts as general librarian, has laid out the various
newspapers, periodicals, or magazines, that have arrived by the last
mail, as gifts from kind friends at home, or such as the officers
after having finished with in the ward- or gun-room may have sent
forward for the men's use.

This would be a good afternoon also for a visitor to come aft to the

188 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

gun-room. The Bacchantes gun-room is a cabin eight feet broad,
fourteen long, and seven high, on the starboard side of the ship. A
table in the middle takes up most of the space : it is rather a close fit
when we sit down a dozen or fourteen round it for meals. On three
sides of the gun-room are the lockers for seats, they are of mahogany
with leathern cushions. Above overhead, of the same wood, is a
deep shelf, which is crammed full of books and nautical instruments,
some in and some out of boxes, dirks of all kinds, some bright, and
some the worse for wear, telescopes, backgammon and chess boards,
writing desks, photograph albums, and an omnium gatherum of
midshipmen's belongings thrown together, and evidently pulled
out and shoved in pretty frequently. The bulkheads of the
gun-room are painted white. There are two ports in the ship's side
that face you on entering, a large and a small : the latter is two feet
square, the former three feet by four, and is constructed so that
the upper half can be opened, and the lower left closed ; and this is
the more prudent course to adopt when not in harbour, unless you
wish to have a sea lopping in. At the after end is a large looking-
glass, occupying the whole width, which brightens up and gives
an appearance of greater size to the place. On the other two
sides hang four pictures, one of them is of the Prince and another is
of the Princess of Wales. If you lift the curtain that hangs in
front of either of the doors that open on to the half-deck, and come
in, you will probably find several sleeping forms stretched full length
on the locker cushions, for sea air makes you drowsy on a warm
afternoon, more especially when you have kept the middle watch
the night before. Other mids will be either making up their logs
and watch bills, or perhaps tracing charts, or finishing up a water-
colour drawing, or reading.

At the left-hand end is the sliding window which separates the
gun-room from the steward's pantry. He is generally at hand,
and when hailed " inside there," hands out tea or cocoa, biscuits,
sherry and bitters, brandies and sodas, or whatever you may be
pleased to take or call for. Now come forward on the foc'sle
again, which is the coolest place as there is not a breath of
wind stirring, and see the whales spouting in the distance on
both sides of the ship ; they might almost be taken for sail on
the horizon ; they are all going south. At 8 P.M. resumed our
proper course.

April IGth. — Exercised at general quarters, firing shot and shell
at a target j for Friday is always the day specially devoted to great

1880. FRIDAY GENERAL QUARTERS. 189

gun exercise. As soon as the daily prayers (at 9 A.M.) are over the
bugle sounds " exercise action." The mess tables are all cleared
away between the guns on the main deck, for they, as well as the
forms, on which the men sit at them, are so constructed that
their metal legs will fold up, so that they may be stowed away at
once overhead between the beams. Then the magazines and shell
room are opened, dummy cartridges are passed up, and all the
motions are gone through, as if the time were come for going into
action. The fire hoses lie on the deck coiled up, ready to be
screwed on to the pumps if necessary, to cope with what is the
deadliest foe on board a ship. The guns are loaded and run out,
and trained in such directions as may be ordered. The men are
armed with their rifles, cutlasses, and pistols, and companies are
exercised, not only in the defence of their own ship, but also in
preparations for boarding an enemy. Quickness as well as

GENERAL QUARTERS.

accuracy of detail in drill is thus perfected. The men work with
a will, and one gun is drilled for time against another, and tossed
about like a plaything under the eye of the midshipman who has
charge of each, or the lieutenant whose station is at that particular
portion of the deck. Sometimes, as English bluejackets are apt to
get excited, and through desire to be quick are careless, or if there
is any talking, (for of course no word is allowed all this time to be
spoken by any one, except the necessary commands), and as it is im-
portant that each man should know and understand the smallest detail
of his duties, so that no question should take him aback, and no
change to another number at the gun should find him unprepared —
in the midst of all this activity, the bugle sounds the " Still " — three
notes — which instantly causes every man and boy to remain just as
he may be, perfectly immovable : and then the captain s voice, or that

190 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

of the commander, from the bridge can be heard by each man, giving
his orders distinctly, upbraiding or directing as the case may be,
until the bugle sounds again " Carry on," and all fall to with in-
creased exertion to do their duty. As the guns are fired the
smoke rolls and curls all along the main deck, as the breeze from
above or through the ports blows it inboard, but only for a few
moments, and the smell of the gunpowder floats away to sea.
Down below in the sick bay, the doctor waits in case any casualty
be brought to him to require attention : and occasionally a man is
told off, though hale and hearty, to be carried down in a cot, in order
to practise the men in the way of handling the sick or wounded.
When there is actual firing at a target, dinner is usually half an
hour later. On ordinary Fridays, quarters are over by 11.30 or
seven bells.

In the afternoon, as a light westerly wind sprang up, we
made sail. After evening quarters, gymnastics, bright and fresh.
At 10 P.M. went to " night-quarters," which is merely a repeti-
tion of the ordinary General Quarters' drill, except that when the
bugle unexpectedly sounds at night, every man of the watch
below is asleep in his hammock, and has, in addition to what was
described in the morning, at once to turn out, lash it up, bring it
on deck, and stow it away in the hammock nettings. At night
the men's hammocks are slung from the beams all along the main
deck over the mess tables and guns. The former have now to
be cleared away, and the latter cast loose, with the clatter of the
chains which hold them firm in their several places, and by the
light of the battle lanterns, instead of by that of day. Night
quarters must take place at least once a quarter, but of course
no notice is given beforehand : in order that the greater test may
be given to the men's preparedness for any emergency. To-night,
after firing two electric broadsides with blank cartridges, and
making a fine flare up of light and a grand crash of sound in the
dark stillness of mid-ocean, we turned in again.

April 17th. — From 9.30 to 12.30 preparing for action aloft,
sending down top-gallant masts, unbending sails, &c. After the
dinner hour made plain sail.

April 18th. — Very nice breeze from the south-west, so at 5.30
A.M. set starboard stunsails, and at 8 A.M. stopped steaming. The
usual Sunday services. After dinner up screw ; the breeze increasing
we make over ten knots. Moon and stars out. The midshipmen
are asleep in their hammocks, which are slung in the steerage, so

1880. BERMUDA TO PORTSMOUTH. 191;

close alongside each other that they are almost touching ; in the
same way their large chests containing their clothes, are closely
packed together on the deck of the steerage. At midnight the
boatswain's mate pipes " call the watch, watch to muster." The
middle watch having been roused out from their hammocks some
minutes previously, fall in on the quarter-deck. The midshipman
of the watch, who has also just been roused from sleep, stands
with his watch bill, and the corporal with his lantern, at the
capstan. He reads out their names, to which they answer one by
one, passing in front of him at the same time : when the last man
of the watch has answered to his name, the midshipman of the watch
reports " all present " to the lieutenant on the bridge, who then
orders reliefs to fall in, and the men of the watch now on deck go
to their several stations.

April Idth. — A rainy and squally morning. At 4.30 A.M., whilst
reefing, a heavy squall from the southward struck the ship, carrying
away the fore top-gallant mast short above the cap, and the cross-
jack yard in the slings ; split the jib, the fore topmast staysail, and
fore and mizen top-gallant sails. After this the wind fell light and
down came the rain. At 6 P.M. swayed up cross-jack yard, the
carpenters having repaired it.

April 20th. — Dead calm all night, noise of wash under counter
as we roll lazily on the swell. At 9 A.M. down screw, and at 10 A.M.
shortened and furled sails, pointed the yards to the wind and pro-
ceeded under steam. To-day we got into water of a dirty bottle-
green, said to be caused by the ice melted from the Newfoundland
banks ; though its temperature was only 65° and that of the air 61°
there was a damp fishy smell with it. The wind is shifting all
round the compass, and in the afternoon we are under sail for a
time, but the wind drawing ahead round to the south-east we
have to furl sails and steam. The Gulf Stream has carried us
thirty-five miles eastward during the last twenty-four hours and at
noon we are 1,865 miles from the Lizard. When the Challenger
sounded in the Gulf Stream between Bermuda and Halifax, the
current was too strong in the middle to allow the sounding line to
reach the bottom, but the thermometer gave the temperature at
various depths, and showed that the passage from the warm stream
to the colder water which surrounded it was singularly abrupt, the
warm current flowing like a river between two banks of cold.

April 21s^. — This morning we are out into the blue water again.
At 8 A.M. exchanged colours with an English clipper with eighteen

192 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

sails set on her and standing westward. There is a fresh feeling in
the air and we can see the mist over the edge of the Gulf Stream
that we have left astern. At 2.30 p.m. stopped engines, and after
evening quarters up screw, as what little wind there is enables us to
go three knots under sail. Next day wind squally from the south
south-east, sailing along close-hauled averaging four knots ; pouring
with rain all day. On Friday the wind drew round to the south,
and we made an average of six knots.

April 26th. — At daylight one sail in sight. Stiff breeze from the
south-west. At 9.15 A.M. weather fine, topsail yard-arm carried
away, the stunsail being set at the time. No Sunday morning
service as the men were on deck repairing damages. Wet and
miserable ; but the wind is in a favourable quarter, and we are
going along eight knots ; after evening quarters have evening
service all right ; and as it was the last Sunday in the month, we
had our Bacchante Hymn for Absent Friends, as well as one of the
regular Hymns for Those at Sea. This we used to do the last
Sunday in every month regularly as long as the ship was in com-
mission, and the men all sang the words with heart and soul, for
their friends at home knew our practice, and we often thought they
were joining too, though separated from us by thousands of miles.

BACCHANTE HYMN FOR ABSENT FRIENDS.

Holy Father, in Thy mercy
Hear our anxious prayer,
Keep our loved ones, now far absent,
'Neath Thy care.

Jesus, Saviour, let thy presence
Be their light and guide,
Keep, oh keep them, in their weakness
At Thy side.

When in sorrow, when in danger,
"When in loneliness,
In Thy love look down and comfort
Their distress.

May the joy of Thy salvation
Be their strength and stay,
May they love and may they praise Thee
Day by day.

Holy Spirit, let Thy teaching
Sanctify their life,

Send Thy grace, that they may conquer
In the strife.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

God the One in Three,

Bless them, guide them, save them, keep them

Near to Thee. Amen.

Tune — Stephanos. Hymns A and M.

1880. NEARING ENGLAND. lOS

April 2&h. — At 8.30 A.M. shortened and furled sails. At 9 A.M.
lit fires under all boilers for twelve-hours full speed trial, and seven
minutes after noon commenced the same. This was kept up till
seven minutes after midnight. With seventy-five revolutions, we
made on an average twelve knots ; total distance run in the
twelve hours 149*5 miles; the maximum speed attained at any
one time was thirteen knots.

Api^il 27th. — The wind being fresh and favourable, made plain
sail in the middle watch, and at 9 A.M. stopped steaming and up
screw.

The next day, as the wind headed us, got the screw down again,
and commenced steaming at 7 P.M., thirty-five revolutions for seven
knots. At 9.10 P.M. a barque on the port beam burnt blue lights ;
so we steered within hailing distance, and found the barque to be
the Royal Alexandra of Liverpool, out from Calcutta bound for
London. She required no assistance, but wished to be reported at
Lloyd's, her main and mizen topmasts having been carried away in
the gale eight days previously.

April 2dth. — Daylight, five sail in sight, at noon six ; increased
speed of engines to forty-five revolutions, which j)roduced eight
knots. In the afternoon exchang^ed numbers with two Eng^lish
barques, the Argosy oi New Brunswick and the Monscon of Dundee,
running westward. To each of these we make a signal, " Who is
the Premier ? " being anxious for news as to change of Ministry
in consequence of the late elections in England, but neither of
them make any response.

April SOth. — General quarters, pistol men at pistol practice. At
noon 195 miles run, and now we are only 278 from the Lizard. A
fine English spring day — the gulls come out to meet the Bacchante
and are all round us on the water. Two stonechats settle on the ship
quite wearied out. They perch themselves on a sunny spot on the
starboard glacis and we try to feed them ; they fly into the cabin
through the port, and we settle them for the night with water and
crumbs under an inverted paper basket ; in the morning they are
dead, nothing in their crops — too tired to taste the food we gave
them. At 6.5 p.m. exchanged colours with an English barque
running to the westward, but cannot make out her number by
signal ; we alter course and close her, holding up a black board on
the poop with, " Who is the Premier ? " chalked upon it. We are
now within hailing distance of the barque, and her skipper think-
ing we are inquiring her name shouts out Fanchon, which our

VOL. I. . o

194 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

captain and those round him on the poop hear as " Gladstone."
So they next hail to the old gentleman, " What is his majority ? " and
the old man replied, " Non entiendo " (meaning, I don't understand),
which those on our poop understand as being " One hundred." We
were steaming close up alongside him at this time, and his dog was
barking at us, and his hands on the forecastle were putting their
heads up to know what was the matter, apparently wondering
what in the world we were after, as we steamed round and round
him. At 9 p.m. sounded with Sir William Thomson's sounding
machine on the tail of the great Sole Bank, sixty-seven fathoms,
fine sand.

3fay 1st. — Beautiful sunny day, blue sea, cold, but invigorating
feel in the air, wind from the north-east, thermometer 53°.
Saturday is the great cleaning day on board ship ; sounds of
holy-stones and scrubbing-brushes begin at four in the morning.
Officers and men walk about in the cold grey morning without
shoes and stockings, and with their trousers turned up above their
knees, while every now and then a wash-deck bucket, either
full of water or empty, spins along down the slippery deck, as it
passes on from one hand to another. At 8 A.M. the signal is given
for " Fire Quarters" by the sentry striking quick, sharp strokes on
the bell on the half-deck, and the lieutenant of the watch sings out,
"Fire under the foc'sle," or, "Fire in the starboard gangway" as the
case may be, and each man is at his station as if the fire were real
and not make-believe, and the hose pump and flood the spot
proclaimed till the flames are supposed to be extinguished. All
this splashing and soaking helps forward the general washing and
cleansing. But the work is not hurried, for there is no daily
inspection on a Saturday morning, and all the forenoon is devoted
to thoroughly cleaning every part of the ship. At seven bells when
the men have breakfasted, the same careful cleansing work begins
below; the lower deck and flats and store-rooms are all being
rubbed down, and the smell of soap is in the air everywhere, and
everywhere resounds the swish-rish of the bristles of the brushes
caused by their lively friction this way and that way mid the
damp and soapsuds upon the wood-work of bulkhead, combing,
deck, tables, &c. ; the ladders are turned wrong side up, that the traffic
may not dim the whiteness of their fresh scrubbed steps. At the
top and bottom of every hatchway are swabs and mats that you
may wipe your feet. Windsails are passed down to dry the decks,
and deck cloths are spread where there is most traffic. All the

1880. COMING UP CHANNEL. 196

mess traps, though polished every day, get an extra polish to-day ;
the tin mess kettles which are stowed at the end of each mess
table all down along the main deck must shine like silver; the
hoops of the bread barges like burnished gold. The mess tables
are scrubbed as white as a table-cloth, and every stain of grease is
removed. Where needful the whitewash overhead is touched up,
and each mess vies with its neighbour in the strife after perfect
cleanliness and neatness. In the afternoon the brass-work receives
special attention; the guns are polished till they shine like
mirrors, and the brass corners on the bitts and the hand-rails to
the hatchways are all made bright and glittering. To-day is a
special Saturday, for to-morrow we hope to be at Spithead, and so
all hands are eager and keen to brighten and smarten up the
Bacchante, which we have learned to trust and love so well. At
2 P.M. sighted the Bishop Lighthouse off Scilly. We alter course
and pass alongside the islands and make our number — we heard
afterwards that the Prince of Wales received a telegram from here,
announcing our safe arrival to him in the middle of the Royal
Academy dinner. On first sighting them, the impression was
strong that they were another group of West Indian Islands that
we had come upon, and we could scarcely believe they were really
England. At 2.30 P.M. sighted St. Agnes, at 4.50 p.m. the Wolf
Rock, at 5 P.M., towards dusk, the Land's End. When the men
muster at evening quarters, to each is served out a clean snow-
white hammock ; every soul on board feels joyous at nearing
dear old England, after many months which seem almost to us, so
many fresh things have we seen in the time, like as many years.
At 8 o'clock the first night-watch was set, and we came on deck and
saw the two dazzling electric lights on the Lizard, shining out like
two giant's eyes into the night. Hailed by a pilot boat, and heard
through the darkness that the Atalcmta had gone down.

May 2nd. — At 2.20 A.M. sighted the Start Light on the port bow,
which we pass at 4.30 A.M., but there is a dim haze over the sea, so
cannot discern any of the Devonshire coast. We are going up
Channel over eight knots. At 8.30 A.M. sight Portland Bill ; at
10 A.M. after the usual routine work is over, all hands are mustered
at divisions for the ceremony of the captain's Sunday inspection,
when, accompanied by the commander and first lieutenant and all
heads of departments, he makes the round of the ship, going all
along the main deck, which is cleared of all but the sentry, and
into the store-rooms and engine-room, and every part of the ship.

o 2

196 CKUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880

He passes last round the upper deck between the two lines of
blue-jackets drawn up bareheaded and in their Sunday uniform.
Inspection over, the sentry tolls the bell, and all find their way to
their places on the main deck for divine service. The chants and
the hymns seem to be sung with even more spirit than usual, and
as it is the first Sunday in the month there is a celebration of
Holy Communion. In the Bacchante this always takes place on the
main deck at a small oak table covered with a red cloth, from beside
which also, instead of from the more formal pulpit or reading desk,
the prayers and lessons of the Sunday service are always read ;
those who wish retire on deck, and the rest remain where they
happen to be on their forms ; a canvas screen shuts off more
than half the main deck. Occasionally there are early cele-
brations of the Holy Communion in the captain's large fore-
cabin, at 8 A.M., which have been attended by about as many
as the mid-day celebrations. After church service the men go
to their dinners, but to-day soon come up again on deck, for being
within sight of home predisposes every one for a cheery chat
over their quiet pipe, as they discuss the events of the cruise and
the greetings of the morrow. We go close in by St. Aldhelm's
Head, and now we can distinguish very plainly Worth, Tillywhim,
and further on beyond, Swanage and the Old Harry chalk pinnacles.
We passed through the Needles at 1.30 P.M., then up the Solent
past Cowes, and at 3.30 P.M. saluted the commander-in-chiefs
fiag with seventeen guns, and at 4 p.m. anchored at Spithead in
seven fathoms. Found here H.M.S. Warrior. Everything looks
very natural in the bright spring afternoon, though, coming from
the tropics, it feels very cool with the thermometer touching 50°.
Usual service at 5 P.M. with short address. Three only of the
ship's company that left England with us have died in the eight
months. Sent off telegrams announcing our arrival, and heard
from the Prince of Wales that he would be with us to-morrow
by noon.

3fay S)'d. — At 6 A.M. Warrior proceeded up harbour. At noon
H.M.S. Fire Qtoeen left the harbour flying the flag of H.E.H. the
Prince of Wales, which the Bacchante saluted with twenty-one
guns. At 12.15 P.M. she came alongside, and the Prince and
Princess of Wales and our three sisters came on board. While
they were going round the ship and looking at the animals and
ship's pets, the Fire Queen returned and brought off Admiral
Ryder and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar. These all lunched

1880. HOME AGAIN. 197

with the captain, and at 4 P.M. left the Bacchante who manned
yards and saluted. And so amid these sounds of welcome we
landed once more on English soil, restored in health and safety to
our friends and home; but all the time while coming up harbour
amid these reverberating echoes of the guns and forts, we could
not help thinking, as we looked up from the deck of the Fire Queen
at the lines of blue-jackets standing out aloft upon the yards of the
Duhe of Wellington and of the St. Vincent, of those 300 men and
boys we had last seen in the bright West Indian Islands all in the
full prime and vigour of English life, but who now sleep beneath
the cold Atlantic wave, and to whom, and their sorrowing relatives
here ashore, never more will a share of all this we to-day enjoy
be given. " Requiem seternam dona eis, Domine ; et lux perpetua
luceat eis."

" Lord all-pitying, Jesu blest,
Grant them Thine eternal rest."

198

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

BETWEEN WHILES.

On the 4th of May, at 3.30 P.M., the Bacchante went into Ports-
mouth harbour from Spithead ; on the 7th gave seven days' leave
to starboard watch, and on the 15 th the same to the port watch ;
on the 11th the ship went into No. 10 dock, and from that time
till the 11th of June was in the hands of the dockyard, refitting, &c.
On the 3rd of June she came out of No. 10 dock, and was lashed
to the north railway jetty ; on the 11th went out to Spithead and
anchored at 1.15 p.m., and took in powder and shell. On the 12th,

TO HOLYHEAD AND PLYMOUTH.

Date,

■Passage.

From Previous Noon.

Temperature.

Distance.

Wind.

Air.

Steam.

Noon.

6 p.m.

June

3.30 P.M. from Spithead

Variable 1 '2

13S.

190

S.W. 4-5

2.10 P.M. Holyhead

184

N. 3-4

N.N.E. 4-6-5

N.E.4-5-7

6.30 P.M. from Holyhead

E.N.E. 7.
N.E. 1-3

147

S.E. 1-3

6.15 A.M. Plymouth Sound
10.40 P.M. from Plymouth

131

S.E. 2-3

20S.

10 a.m. Spithead

107

S.E. 3-5-2

passing Portland made ship's number to Channel Fleet ; on the 15th
H.M.S. Hercules (Captain S. P. Townsend) and H.M.S. Belleisle
(Captain T. Barnardiston) arrived also at Holyhead. On the 17th
the Prince of Wales opened the London and North Western
Railway Docks at Holyhead, and the ships present manned yards
and fired royal salutes. The Bacchante left Holyhead the same
evening; called at Plymouth on the 19th to discharge super-
numeraries; saluted Admiral Elliot's flag, and found there H.M.S.
Achilles (Captain A. C. F. Heneage) and Valiant (Captain
W. C. Chapman). On the 21st having discharged powder and shell
at Spithead, at 10 A.M. came up into Portsmouth harbour and along-
side the north jetty, and from June 22nd to July 15th was again
in the hands of the dockyard, refitting. On the 16th at 2 P.M. she
went out to Spithead and anchored at 3 P.M., and on I7th took in
powder and shell.

1880. WITH CHANNEL AND RESERVE SQUADRONS. 199

CRUISE WITH THE COMBINED CHANNEL AND RESERVE
SQUADRONS.

July V^ih. — We left Marlborough House at 9 A.M., and arriving
at Portsmouth harbour about noon, went off to the Bacchante,
which was lying at Spithead, in the cutter, under the command
of Mr. Gunner Frail. The tide and wind were against us, and so
a dockyard steam launch that happened to be going off with some
supernumeraries to the ship, having overtaken us half-way out,
took the cutter in tow, and we got on board just in time to run up
on the poop to salute the Queen as Her Majesty steamed past in
the Alberta, crossing to Osborne. It was nearly 4 P.M. when the
Bacchante weighed anchor ; the weather threatened rain, but it
cleared and the sun shone out brightly through the clouds — a good
omen. We passed Cowes and went out through the Needles,
sighting Swanage, Durlstone Point, and St. Aldhelm's Head before
9 P.M. We proceeded westwards all Monday night at seven
and a-half knots.

July 20th. — Past the Start at 5 A.M. in a fog which lasted all the
early morning. About 11 A.M. it cleared away, the sea was perfectly
calm. Past the Land's End by noon, and at 1 P.M. were close off
the Longships : these rocks resemble long-boats with reefed sails.
A lot of sea-birds on the water. In the afternoon as the wind
was favourable we made plain sail, and so proceeded eight, nine,
and ultimately ten knots as the wind freshened. At half-past ten
went to night quarters.

July 21s^.— At 7 A.M. sighted the coast of Ireland, Cape Clear, and
the Fastnet Lighthouse, which stands on the top of an isolated rock
that resembles a boat's lug from a distance, with the coast of county
Cork rising very mountainous behind. Saluted Admiral Hood's
flag, and came to anchor in Bantry Bay at 3 P.M., after steaming
past all the ships of the combined Channel and Keserve Squadrons,
which we found here under Rear- Admiral Hood, C.B., in the
Minotaur (Captain Rawson) ; the Agincourt bearing the flag of
Read- Admiral Somerset (Captain Bulwer, C.B.), and the Hercides
bearing the flag of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh. They are lying
moored in two lines. Our position is at the extreme end of the
weather line, next to the Minotaur. The Duke of Edinburgh was

200

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

PORTSMOUTH TO BANTRY BAY AND VIGO.

Date.

From Previous

Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Distance.

Sea.

Air.

COUHSE.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sail.

Steam

Noon.

6 KM.

Noon.

6 p.m.

July

...

134

W. by N. 4,
W.S.W. 2

49-53

208

S.E.3-4,E.S.6

50-26

9-52

...

Calm

...

S. 3E.

S. 4-7,
W.S-W. 2-3

50-28

9-55

S. 2 E.

W. bv S. 3-4

48-53

9-50

25S.

S. 9E.

S.W. 4,
S.E. 3-7

...

S.W. by S. 7,
W.S.W. 5-6

46-2

10-12

S. 2E.

125

W.S.W. 7-4

43-56

10-6

S. 1 E.

S.W. 4-5

42-27

10-5

...

121

S.AV. 2-3

42-23

10-5

S. 50 E.

119

W. 1

42-11

9-45

Totals ...

N.E. 2-3

4214

8-45

1237

1880. ' BANTRY BAY. 201

out for the day in the Lively (Lieutenant-CommaiiJer Le Strange)
when we arrived, but returned shortly afterwards and then came on
board the Bacchante and asked us to dinner with him. This is
a well-sheltered anchorage lying between Bere Island and the north
shore of Bantry Bay. It may be entered at either end, and at any
state of the tide, by ironclads of deep draught. Within, the water
lies clear and deep beneath the shadow of craggy grey limestone
hills, which vary in height from 300 to 3,000 feet, and there is
ample room at Berehaven for even a larger fleet than that which
is now under Admiral Hood's orders. It was a splendid evening,
the light lingered long in the west after the sun had gone down,
and was reflected all over the smooth waters of Bantry Bay in
which the hill-tops and the clouds were mirrored surprisingly
clear. At 11.10 exercised at night quarters with the fleet ; second
night in succession we have had this.

July 22nd. — Midshipmen's half-yearly examination proceeding;
busy also making up logs and watch-bills. Very jolly meeting old
Britannia shipmates, of whom there are many here on board the
other ships. Left Berehaven, Bantry Bay, at 3 P.M., and proceeded
out of harbour in single column in line ahead, Bacchante being last
ship in the wake of Minotaur, When outside, the twelve ironclads
were formed into three divisions, each led by a flagship, with the
Bacchante on the starboard beam of the Minotaur. The eight ships
of the Reserve Squadron — Warrior (Captain R. C Douglas), Lord
V/arden (Captain Lindesay Brine), Hector (Captain R. Carter),
Penelope (Captain H. F. Nicholson), Valiant (Captain H. B. W^ooll-
combe), Audacious, Defence (Captain A. T. Thrupp), and Hercules —
are manned by the coast-guardsmen, who are thus taken to sea
for drill and exercise for six weeks every summer. Every coast-
guardsman goes once in two years. For fighting purposes the
ships and guns are all obsolete : a couple of modern French iron-
clads with their breech-loading and small-shell machine-guns
(capable of penetrating twenty inches of armour), would make
matchwood of the lot with the greatest ease, however brave the
men on board might be, for none of them have more than five
inches of armour, and they represent the stage at which naval
construction had arrived a quarter of a century ago. They yet serve
a good purpose in the time of peace, not only by sparing the costly
new ships, but by supplying a very healthy and practical form of
floating gymnasium, for the crews. Men can be drilled on board of
them, not only to be gunners, but to be seamen. For purposes of

202 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

war, however, they are only dangerous as tending to lull the shore-
going Englishman into a false belief that he has a navy adequate
to his defence. Capital for electioneering purposes is apt also to be
made out of their existence. They make an imposing show in the
ports of Ireland or Scotland, and on water as well as on paper ;
but the Channel and Reserve Squadrons' apparent strength is show
and nothing else. These huge gymnasia are thus a dangerous
means for misleading the country ; they are really a makeshift,
and so far from being a sign of our strength at sea, are a proof
of how much remains to be done to put the navy in a proper
condition. It is a fine sight, nevertheless, to see the combined
squadrons moving slowly in line over the water, though the stately
procession does not in reality mean all that it appears to. Just
before leaving Berehaven we heard that our old commander, Lord
Ramsay, had succeeded his father as Earl of Dalhousie. It was
another lovely evening ; as we left the anchorage there were
several peat-fires burning on the hill-side with the smoke slowly
curling up.

July 24!th. — Proceeding steadily four knots. Perpetual signalling
all the morning, fine practice for our signal staff, who are new to
squadron sailing. In the afternoon the twelve ironclads were at
steam tactics ; from two lines they formed into four, and went
through various evolutions, crossing and intercepting each other's
path scientifically, and in different ways, according to signal, turning
and manoeuvring, separating and closing in. The Bacchante was
ordered to look out on a given bearing four miles distant, whilst
the evolutions were going on. Took up our station again at
7 P.M. The same thing happened on each of the next few days.

July 2Qth. — There were no evolutions to-day, as a man was
buried belonging to the Valiant. After evening quarters we got
the bar up and had our usual gymnastic exercise.

July 27th. — We are having lovely weather with a gentle breeze
from the southward, and we all feel glad to be once more away at
sea. There are many porpoises about which afford objects for
launching the ''good and kind's" harpoon at from the glacis
(happily without effect) as we lie off during the afternoon evolu-
tions. When these manoeuvres are over we have our share of the
fun in the way of sail drill with the other ships, which is a good
thing for our men, considering the long time the Bacchante has
been in the dockyard. The four Channel ships, Minotaur, Agin-
court, Achilles, and Northumherland, usually beat us in time and in

1880. BANTEY BAY TO VIGO. 203

smartness, as they have had so much more 'drill together than we
have, though we hold our own with the "gobbies." Whenever
two or more ships are in company together, and the same evolution
has to be performed at the same time by them, no matter what the
evolution may be, there is a race which shall have finished first,
which is often decided by a very few seconds only. We are abreast
of Finisterre this evening ; it is a splendid moonlight night. The
thirteen large ships of the combined squadrons, with the Sawh,
Lively, and Salamis (as tenders), are proceeding along together in
silence over the dark waters ; only the lights of each ship to tell
that the two lines are true to their stations and keeping exactly
the same distance from each other as in the broad daylight hours.
We pass now and again trading steamers on their way up Channel,
and their red and green lights — according as they pass us on the
port or starboard — coming up out of the darkness and going into
the darkness, are the messengers that tell of the never-resting
network of Britain's trade and influence.

July 29th. — To-day as there is a fresh breeze from the south-
west, by permission of the admiral, we lie off under sail all day
whilst the fleet are at steam tactics. We had a fine view of the
Spanish coast in the evening, both of the highlands and their
villages, as well as of the rocky islands at the entrance of Vigo
Bay. Exercising signals with the electric light.

J^cly SOtJi. — At 7 A.M. admiral altered course sixteen points to
starboard, that is right-about-face, and stood off from the land.
Prepared for action aloft, after which there was a funeral on board
the Northumberland. This is the third in the squadron since we
have left Bantry Bay, but as there are over 8,000 men in the
thirteen ships of the squadron, this would be no more than the
usual average of the death-rate. At noon altered course to stand
in towards the land. There is a beautiful breeze from the north,
and after the usual evolutions in the evening, on sighting land
again, altered course sixteen points to starboard and stood off for
the night.

July ^Ist. — At 1.30 A.M. Admiral altered course sixteen points to
port, and shaped course for Vigo Bay, which we entered about the
dinner hour. Fine mountainous coast outside ; the Bayona Islands
at the entrance are rocky and jagged, with a lighthouse on one
fork. They protect the bay entirely from the Atlantic swell, and
as the wind is generally from the north down the coast of Spain,
the harbour is practically land-locked. The anchorage, off the town

204

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

of Vigo, is about ten miles from the islands at the entrance of the
bay. We anchored at 2 P.M. in a good position off the town. The
Bacchante came in last, and steamed up between the two lines
of ships to her berth right at the end of the weather line, next to
the Miiiotaur, and so pretty close to the landing-steps. The square
houses of the town, towered and tiled, and the old church with its
double steeple and tang-tang bell seem close upon us, and above
all rises the hill with the Spanish fort on top.

AT VIGO.

Date.

Wind.

Tkmperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 pm.

Noou.

6 p.m.

Aug.
IS.
2
3
4

Calm

S.W. andN.E. 1

N, 3-4 and variable

67
67
66
63

66
63
63

70
75
&1

68
70
77
70

August \st. — Lunched with Admiral Hood on board the
Minotaur. Afterwards went over the ship with the flag-lieutenant
and some of our gunroom friends, with whom we spent the greater
part of the afternoon, feeding a tame cockatoo, looking at photos
and a lot of Caldas ware from Lisbon, and other curios. Later on

188a PICNIC UP VIGO BAY. 205

went on board the Hercules. It was a rainy and miserable
afternoon. Spanish frigate, Villa de Bilboa, arrived and saluted
Admiral Hood's flag.

August ^Tid. — At 10.15 A.M. the Duke of Edinburgh called
alongside the Bacchante in the Northumiberland' s steam launch, to
take some of the officers for a picnic up to the head of Vigo Bay.
On starting the weather looked very unpromising, for clouds were
hanging low on the hills all round the bay ; but they all cleared off,
and the view six miles further up, where the bay narrows in, was
very pretty. The hills are rugged, their bases are covered with
fields of light-green maize, which looks like young sugar-cane at a
distance. On the south side of the harbour runs the new railway
with its many cuttings and bridges ; it is to be opened in January
next. We landed at the head of the bay beyond Quarantine or
St. Simon Island, and proceeded at once to lay out the seine and
then haul it up on the beach of the mainland. The beach here-
about is broad and sandy, but there were only a few fish caught.
Many old men, fisher boys, girls and matrons, short and yellow-
skinned and black-haired and full of good humour, came down from
the village to see what was going on, and one of our party was very
industrious with his pencil in sketching them as well as the seining
party. One old gentleman thoroughly enjoyed skylarking with
the youngsters. Adams (our general messman), by the Duke's
invitation, and in memory of the old Sidtan days, has come to super-
intend the lunch, consisting partly of the fish just caught, which
he has spread out in a maize field at the top of a small cliff. We
found it very hot in the sun, and those who had brought umbrellas
were glad to use them. One of the fisher lads of the village volun-
teered to show the blue-jackets a better place to cast the seine, about
a mile further on round a small promontory to the north of where
we were ; he jumped into the boat with them, and while they were
pulling round we all walked there along the beach. Here, though
the net was hauled two or three times again, in spite of the
most sanguine hopes and the most vigorous gesticulations, we
failed to secure anything except much green seaweed, which made
the net exceedingly heavy, and a few cuttle-fish and stray crabs.
The green seaweed was at once collected by the peasants and
carried off in carts for manure. Some of us fancied that the
friendly fisher-boy who had directed our labours hither, had had an
end in view other than that he professed ; and certainly our labours
profited his village friends more in this way than they did our-

206 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

selves as far as fish were concerned. The tide was falling fast and
many boats of fishermen were now putting out to go further down
the harbour in order to net fish on the tide turning. There was a
small fight between two young bulls, which had been brought down
to the beach by two young girls, who were powerless to restrain
them, until one girl more clever than the other stopped the
combat by throwing a quantity of green food between them ; they
paused at once and down went their noses in the fodder in peaceful
happiness. A quantity of black sheep and pigs were also driven
down to the beach, but for what reason was not apparent, unless
it be for rubbing their muzzles in the salt. The whole of our
party, old and young, with shoes off, waded about in the water and
picked up the cockles, which are very abundant, and of which
large quantities were consumed before we divested ourselves of
the rest of our clothing and had a good swim in the bay. We got
away about 7.45 P.M. in the steam launch, and steamed round the
north end of St. Simon's Island and so out and down the harbour.
It was a splendid evening, and at sunset the lovely effects of light
on the hills and clouds were the delight and the despair of the
artist of our party. We had to go easy many times while passing
through the nets which the fishermen had spread here and there
in the three miles of narrows to catch the fish that were coming in
with the returning tide, and whicli they were watching in their
boats, shouting to us as we passed. We got on board about 9 P.M.

Atcgust Srd. — Name day of the Duchess of Edinburgh, and (as
the Duke is with the fleet) the combined squadrons dressed with
masthead flags, and the Russian standard at the main. The flag-
ship (Minotaur) fired a royal salute at noon. The band of the
Bacclmnte played on board the Hercules at the Duke's dinner in
the evening. Bacchante was coaling all day.

August 4th. — Manned and armed boats. In the afternoon
walked through the town of Vigo, where there is much new build-
ing going on ; the houses are white in front, and some have pretty
iron verandahs and curious screens ; but the smells are more
powerful than pleasing. The water supply here is so bad that it
has long been forbidden to the Queen's ships to take any from the
shore ; there are, however, plenty of beer and grog shops, which
seemed to be pretty largely patronised by the liberty men of the
fleet. Walked on right up to the fort at the top of the hill : saw
here, for the first time, vines growing over trellises at a short
distance from the soil. It is a mountainous country inland, but the

1880.

AT VIGO.

207

view is not much except across the harbour and towards its head.
As the English walk about on shore here they are hailed by the little
boys with " I say," " I say," which appears to them very amusing.
Returned down a splendid avenue of old trees into the town, and
after waiting a short time on the esplanade, where some of our
fellows were playing lawn-tennis on the grass, which has been
levelled for a court by the Achilles, we went off in a shore-boat in
order to be in time for bathing from the ship, which we have enjoyed
very much each day we have been here. Just before leaving the
esplanade we saw the procession of a priest and sacred image start
to go out to the small hill outside the town ; crackers and fireworks
were let off before it every now and then as a sort of salute and
to draw people's attention.

Admiral Sir William Hewett came on board to*day ; he came out
in the Warrior, as Captain Douglas's guest, to see the steam tactics;
the Duke will give him a passage to England in the Hercules.

qOO TO COWES.

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

P.M.

Aug.

...

S.W. 3,
N.W.3-7-3

...

N. 67 W.

N.W. 3

42-46

19-26

N. 14 E.

N.W. 3-5

44-11

9-59

8S.

N". 30 E.

120

N.W. 4-2

45-54

8-34

N. 39 E.

119

N.W. 3-4

47-38

7-10

N. 27 E.

125

N.&KE.l

49-29

5-44

N. 8E.

N.E. 2-3

49-32

6-7

...

164

N.E. 3-4

50-33

1-0

...

18
8

N.E. 2-3
miles.

Total distance

. 743

August 5th. — Admiral Hood shifted his flag from the mizen to
the fore on promotion from Rear- to Vice-Admiral : the Agincourt
saluted the flag with fifteen guns. There is evidently ^oraQflte on
with that image at the top of the hill, for we can see quite well a
small concourse of people clustering up there, and they are still
firing crackers and rockets. At 4 P.M. weighed and followed the
other ships of the squadron out of the bay by the northern entrance
(the same by which we had entered). The Warrior's machinery is

208 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

disabled, and she is prevented from following us out, so she
remains at anchor. The Bacchante is told off by the admiral to
pass on the signals which the Warrior was then making about
her accident. When outside, shaped course north-west-half-north.
Glad to be at sea again.

August &h. — Duke of Edinburgh's birthday. Prepared for
action aloft, exercised at general quarters. At 12.10 the Warrior
and Salamis (Commander A. Fitzgeorge) are observed coming out
from Vigo to rejoin the flag. We are pitching somewhat, but not
sufficiently to interrupt the usual gymnastic instruction on the
horizontal bar after evening quarters.

Aitgud 7th. — At 9 a.m. all the squadron made plain sail, as there
was a brisk breeze from the north-west, and continued so (with
steam) during the whole day — a rare sight in the present day,
thirteen men-of-war under canvas. After evening quarters took in
second reef of topsails, and before midnight furled sails as wind
had shifted and then fell light.

August 10th. — The last two days have been beautifully fine
weather, calm with bright sunshine. Since we have been with the
squadron our men have been digging out much better, as com-
petition seems to have put them on their mettle. For times of drill
the Bacchante has usually been fourth or fifth ship in the squadron,
although in the heavy drills we have hard work to hold our own
against the larger complements of the bigger ships. But com-
petition with the other ships' companies at sail drill has sharpened
up our men considerably. They had rather fallen off through the
ship having been so long in the dockyard, but are now beginning
to work much better together, so that when we join the Flying
Squadron we hope to be by no means the worst of the crews. Sail
drill was formerly so important that it is still part of the routine of
every day on board a man-of-war when weather permits. This
drill consists in taking in as rapidly as possible every sail that the
ship can carry ; a vessel may be seen with every sail set alow and
aloft, and in three or four minutes all will be taken in except
close-reefed topsails that would be carried in a gale of wind ; or a
sail is supposed to be split, and it is at once furled, sent down, and
replaced by a new one from the sail-room ; or a spar is supposed
to be sprung, when all sail on it must be immediately taken in, the
injured spar must be replaced by a sound one ; then the yards are
again sent up and the sails set as before. Signal for the special
drill which the Admiral may select on any particular evening to be

1880. VIGO TO CO WES. 209

executed by all the ships of the squadron is made from the flagship ;
when it is hauled down all the men scamper aloft, and each ship
endeavours to perform the evolution or drill ordered in shorter time
than another. For a ship to excel in exercise aloft the highest
degree of organisation is required ; the intricate tracery of ropes,
whose various purposes to the landsman appear so hopelessly con-
fusing, is to the sailor a beautiful and perfectly adapted machine
for controlling the spars and sails which give life and motion to
his ship, as his own sinews and muscles give motion to his body.
As our muscles are directed by reason and instinct, so must these
ropes be manned by men familiar with the objects they serve. If
a sail is to be taken in, men are stationed to let go some ropes and
to haul on others. If the man is flurried and loses his head, and
lets go his rope too soon or too late, the sail may be split, the yard
may be sprung, and the safety of the men, or even of the ship
herself, may be endangered. Sail drill is therefore not only useful
for a gymnastic exercise to the men, but as a training for them
in readiness, handiness, and general smartness. We are making up
for the Lizard and towards evening pass several outward-bounders
under full sail coming down Channel. Sighted the Lizard Lights
at 8 P.M. Admiral made signal to alter course in succession ; while
we were doing so a thick fog came on, through which, however, the
stars overhead were clearly visible. The flagship was firing the usual
half-hour gun, and each ship sounding her pendants with the steam
whistle, or siren, in succession, every ten minutes during the whole
night as we steamed away and stood off from the land ; the fog
lifted for a little about midnight.

August 11th. — In the morning watch several brilliant meteors were
observed ; at 5 A.M. when the fog lifted and cleared off the whole
fleet was in station. As we watched the sun rise out of the sea
and over the fog, the orb came up first red and then golden, and
next the fog-streaks, blown by the wind from the east as it were
"aw^ay from before the path of the chariot of the mounting king,'*
were spread high up overhead. At first, as day dawned, the hulls
of the ironclads loomed, one after the other, dark through the fog,
and then shortly afterwards as their wet sides caught the rays of
the increasing sunlight they glistened for a few minutes as if
they had been magically changed to white.

At 6.30 A.M. altered course in succession 16 points to port. The
Admiral made a signal that he was very pleased with the way the
ships kept station during the fog last night, and then at 8.15 the

VOL. I. P

210 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Reserve Squadron parted company, and a signal was made to
Bacchante to proceed to Spithead, as the Channel Squadron were
about to spread for target practice. We steamed away up mid-
Channel. A calm day, bright sun, and what little wind there was
from the east. Passed more ships on their way down Channel
under full sail. Overtook the Hector as she was making up for
Southampton Water : we were going 8 knots and easily passed her.
Sighted H.M.S. Forc^qmie on the starboard bow and exchanged
numbers with her. Sighted the Start Point at 6 P.M. and passed it
and its light at 8 P.M. Looked out towards Dartmouth and saw the
high land there ; it was a clear starry night and the young moon
set shortly after the sun.

Aitgust 12th. — At 1 a.m. sighted the Shambles Light, and at
5.30 A.M. H.M. brig Marten made her number, and in the breakfast
hour we were off St. Catherine's Point. After divisions put target
overboard and fired shot and shell at it, off Ventnor. Which done,
passed on up Channel; Shanklin, Brading, and the white cliffs
of St. Helens all standing out clear over the calm grey sea,.
Althouo^h there was a s^ood breeze from the east the thermometer
was over 70°. At 1.80 made our number to the Duke of Wellington,
and observed H.M.S. Hecla lying at Spithead, where we came to an
anchor at 3.40 P.M. While the captain had gone up harbour, to
call on the Port Admiral, the Princess of Wales with our three
sisters came on board from the yacht Fortnna, with Miss Knollys,
Sir H. Keppel, Sir Allen Young, and Lord Charles Beresford : and
after them came the Prince of Wales from the Zuleika, with
Captain Stephenson, as they happened to be cruising in this
direction. They stayed on board about three-quarters of an hour,
and then returned to Cowes. The Hecla (Captain Morgan Singer)
sailed the same evening for the Mediterranean.

August ISth. — At 1 A.M. arrived H.M.S. Newcastle (Captain
Kelly), and during the morning arrived also H.M. ships Minotaur
and Penelope. At 12.30 weighed and proceeded under steam for
Cowes, where we anchored in the Roads at 2.30 P.M., at a safe
distance from the shore and shipping. The same afternoon we
went for a cruise in the yacht Formosa, and returned on board in
the evening. Found Belleisle at Cowes as guardship. The Lively,
bearing the Duke of Edinburgh's flag, and the Hector arrived at
Cowes.

August 14^th. — At noon we went on board the R.Y. Oshorne and
proceeded to Portsmouth, where we went over the dockyard with

1880.

AT COWES.

211

Admiral the Honourable F. A. Foley, especially to see the 81 -ton
gun hoisted from the lighter preparatory to being placed on board
the Inflexible, and then lunched with Prince Edward of Saxe-
Weimar at Government House. We afterwards attended the
athletic sports, on the new recreation ground, between the two
Services ; the Princess of Wales gave away the prizes. It was a
lovely day. We returned to Cowes in the evening.

AT COWES.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sei..

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Aug.

N.E. 2-3

15 s.

KE. 2-3

N.E. 2-4

E.N.E. 4-6-3

KE. 4-2

N.E. 21

N.E. 2-3

22 s.

E. 3 5

August loth. — The Prince and Princess of Wales and our three
sisters, and the Duke of Edinburgh, with Miss Knollys, Sir H,
Keppel, Captain Stephenson, and Lieutenant Le Strange, came on
board to morniug service, which was held on the quarter-deck, under
the awning. In the afternoon the Himalaya passed to the west-
ward with troops for the Afghan War.

August IQth. — At drill with the other mids before breakfast, and
saw the Osborne going away to Portsmouth, where the Prince of
Wales presented new colours to the 23rd Koyal Welsh Fusiliers.
Had school in the forenoon, and in the afternoon gun drill and
gymnastics on the horizontal bar. The Osborne made fast to her
buoy at 8 P.M. when we went on board for a short time.

August ISth. — Cowes regatta. Yacht sailing races going on
during the day, with a nice breeze from the east. Pretty sight
watching them round the Prince Consort's buoy, which is close
under Bacchantes stern.

August Idth. — Went up to Osborne to see the Queen and the
Empress Eugenie, who returned from the Cape on the I7th, and is
staying there ; and afterwards went in the Osborne with Captain

p 2

212 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Lord Charles Saott, the first lieutenant, and four gun-room mess-
mates, westward through the Needles, round into Christ Church Bay
where we landed and had a seining party on the beach. We had
some difficulty in getting ashore at the mouth of the little river
and some of us got rather a ducking. After lunch we had fine fun
hauling the seine : we all of us, as it was a warm summer's day,
were in the water with our clothes on ducking and swimming
abaut ; two of the leading hands in these gambols were the two
rival captains (Bacchante and Carysfort) who seemed to revive the
memory of their gun-room days, when they were youngsters
together. Lady Waterford came down on to the beach from the
house just above. On going on board the Osborne, several of the
party, as the steam launch came alongside, jumped overboard, but
all, after a longer or shorter swim, came safely up the gangway,
more or less blown and glad to go below and change their clothes.
Returned to Cowes before dusk.

August 20th. — In the forenoon the steam pinnace was away firing
outrigger torpedoes, and in the afternoon blew up an old shore
boat, bought for the occasion, by a hand-charge. At 4 P.M., race
between the officers of the Victoria and Albert and those of the
Osborne, in six-oared galleys, in which the latter won. At 8. p.m.
the Prince of Wales came on board to dine with Captain Lord
Charles Scott and the officers of the ship. The dinner was under
the poop and the guests were, Admiral Sir H. Keppel, G.C.B.,
Captain Thomson ( Victoria and Albert), Captain Carter (Hector),
Captain Stephenson, C.B., Staff- Captain Balliston, and Mr. Francis
Knollys. Afterwards the Bacchante Snowdrop Minstrels performed
on the quarter-deck : and when the Prince of Wales left, the
ship was lit up with blue lights.

August 2\st. — The Queen crossed to Portsmouth in the
Victoria and Albert with Alberta, in order to bid farewell to the
Rifle Brigade, who were leaving this day. Her Majesty went on
board the Jumna and was met there by the Prince and Princess of
Wales, who had previously crossed over from Cowes in the Elfin.
Admiral Sir Cooper Key arrived from London and stayed the night
on board the Osborne. The next morning, after church, the Jumna
passed, with the Rifle Brigade on board, outward bound for India,
and was cheered by the three yachts, the Hector and the Bacchante.

August 23rd. — At 9 A.M. weighed and proceeded to Spithead
(eight miles), where we anchored at 10.40 A.M., and all the afternoon
were employed getting out powder and shell, and the next day

1880. IN DOCKYARD AGAIN. 213

proceeded up harbour and secured alongside the Sheer Jetty,
where we remained until September 11th, preparing for our cruise
with the Detached Squadron (amongst other things re-shipping our
forecastle gun, hoisting out and shifting ballast). The Inconstant,
commissioned to-day, is to bear the flag of Rear- Admiral the Earl
of Clanwilliam, C.B., with Captain Fitzgerald as flag captain. She
has, apparently, a fine ship's company; we see them almost every
day marching down through the dockyard to their ship, as they are
at present berthed on board a hulk till they have made her
ready. Seamen proper are entered as boys, who are instructed for
some time (usually two years) in training-ships before being drafted
for sea service. The limits placed in recent years by the Legisla-
ture on the means of enforcing discipline in the Navy have rendered
necessary great care in the selection of boys, so as to exclude
any whose antecedents are such as to render it probable that
there would be difficulty in controlling them under the regulations
now in force. Even with this careful selection the maintenance
of discipline is at present sufficiently difficult. The result of this
system of entry has been to raise considerably the tone of the
man-of-war's men, so that among the seamen of to-day, quietness
and order being the rule, the reckless, jolly sailor of tradition is
rarely found. The instruction of boys entered for the service is
most carefully carried out ; and continues on board the sea-going
ship to which they may be drafted till they are eighteen years of
age, when they are rated Ordinary Seamen, and draw their grog and
tobacco like full-grown men. The fleet at sea in peace time is now
not sufficient to keep all our men-of-war's men in proper practice,
so that some of them rust in harbour ships, occupied with employ-
ments which could be well met in some other way. Nothing can
be more dangerous than the idea that strong hands and stout hearts
are all that is required; with the costly and complicated ships and
weapons of the present day, high training is absolutely necessary for
the men that have the working of them, and some training for nearly
all officers. Such knowledge cannot be given in a moment. Hence
the utility of sending numbers to sea in training squadrons for the
special purpose of exercising men on salt water. But employment
in flying squadrons has not been popular, as a rule, among officers
or men, on account of its being particularly arduous and irksome.

August 25th. — Fleet surgeon A. Turnbull, M.D., joined, and
next day Lieutenant A. C. Smyth, R.M.L.I. Four days' leave
were given to the port-watch, and when they returned, on the 31st,

214 CRUISE OF H.M S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

four days' leave were given to starboard-watch. From September
1st to the 10 th the Bacchante was preparing for foreign cruise.
On Monday, September 6th, there was a pulLing race at Cowes
between the boats of the Osborne, Seaflower, and Hsk. The Osborne s
galley (seamen), steered by Eddy, came in first, and the officers'
crew of the Osborne, steered by George, came in second. On the
7th the Lords of the Admiralty arrived at Portsmouth, and came on
board the Bacchante on the 9th, on which day also Admiral the
Earl of Clanwilliam and Captain Lord Charles Scott dined on
board the Osborne with the Prince of Wales. On Saturday,
September 11th, the Bacchante proceeded to Spithead in the
forenoon, and on Monday, the 13th, we hoisted in our powder
and shell.

Sept. 14^/i. — The Prince of Wales, with Prince John of Gliicksburg
(brother of the Princess of Wales), Prince Louis of Battenberg,
Sir H. Keppel, and Captain Stephenson, came with us on board
the Bacchante at Spithead. The weather was wet, rough and
squally, though every now and then the sun shone out brightly for
a few minutes, during one of which intervals the Prince of Wales
and his party were photographed with the officers under the
poop. They, after lunching on board, proceeded in the Bacchante,
which weighed shortly after 4 P.M., from Spithead down the
Solent towards Cowes. At 5.40 p.m., about midway, the Prince
of Wales left, and went on board the Osborne (which was accom-
panying us) in order to return to London. About this time there
was a succession of fierce squalls with heavy rain, as thick as hail,
which completely hid everything from view within a few yards of
the ship, and this rendered it somewhat difficult to communicate
with the Osborne. The last we saw of her through the mist and
rain was with the signal flying bidding us " Farewell and God's
speed." We anchored off Cowes at 6.30 p.m. for the night. Our
cruise, as now planned, will take us right round the world with the
Training Squadron. We hope to get through the Straits of
Magellan by the end of December into the Pacific ; and, after
visiting Chili, Peru, Quito, and the Yosemite Valley from San
Francisco, to arrive at Vancouver's Island by May; and to proceed
by the Sandwich Islands and Japan to China,where we hope to arrive
not later than September, in order that during October (if duty
permits) a visit may be paid to Pekin. This is the one month in
the whole of the year, owing to the alternations of extreme heat
and cold which there prevail, during which such visit would be at

1880. PROJECTED CRUISE OF TRAINING SQUADRON.

215

all practicable ; and this is the one date of all others that will
therefore be strictly adhered to. This projected cruise of a Flying
Squadron to the Pacific was originally designed in the same way
as preceding ones for the training of the officers and seamen of
Her Majesty's fleet, and the passages were to be made almost
entirely under sail. The Bacchante is to cruise for a month off
the northern coast of Spain till the squadron comes together at
Vigo ; and this is to be the cruise as at present arranged —

Dis-
tance.

At
Sea.

Approximate

Dates.

In Har-
bour.

Approximate

Dates.

Portsmouth to Vigo or Ferrol
Vigo to Madeira

Miles.

650

600
1020
3600

980
1760

990

400

700

650
2760

700
2400
3600

360

300

500

700
1500

800
nd Penai
id the Cii

1400

2400

1308

I perhaps

Days.
5

8
30

8
12

5
2S

^0
30

4
12

6
3g. If

pebej

joinM

Sept. 8 to 13

23 to 28

Oct 5 to 13 ...

Days.
10

5
10

2
21
30
14
14

7
28
10
14

... I'ron

ered hon

return t

2
After vis
their sur

Sept. 13 to 23

28 to Oct. 5
Oct. 13 to 18
Nov. 17 to 27
Dec. 5 to 12

27 to Jan. 8
Jan. 16 to 23
26 to 29
Feb. 4 to 25
March 2 to 4
April 1 lo 21

28 to May 28
June 21 to July 5
Aug. 5 to 20
23 to 30
Sept. 3 to 10

14 to Oct. 12
Oct. 17 to 27
Nov. 1 to 14

26 to Dec. 3
1 Singapore visit
le thence (and the
hrough Suez Canal

Jan. 13 to 20
22 to 29

Feb. 13 to 15
iting Egypt, spend
amer cruise.

Madeira to St. Vincent

St. Vincent to Montevideo ...

Montevideo to Fallclands

Falltlands to Valparaiso

Valparaiso to Islay

Islay to Callao

Callao to Guayaquil

Guayaquil to Galapagos

Galapagos to San Francisco...
S.an Francisco to Vancouver

Vancouver to Honolulu

Honolulu to Yokohama

IS to Nov. 17
Nov. 27 to Dec. 5

Dec. 15 to 27

Jan 8 to 16...

23 to 26

29 to Feb. 4...
Feb. 25 to March 2

March 4 to 31

April 21 to 28

May 28 to June 21
July 5 to Aug. 5 ...

Aug. 20 to 28

30 to Sept. 3

Sept. 10 to 14

Oct. 12 to 17

Nagasaki to Chefoo

Shanghai to Hong-kong

Hong-kong to Bangkok

Bangkok to Singapore

Sarawak, Malacca a
visit to Australia ai
thus—

Singapore to Trincomalee ...

Trincomalee to Colombo

Colombo to Aden

27 to 31

Nov. 14 to 26

Dec 3 to 9

the squadron be ord
?iven up), then would

Jan 1 to 13

20 to 22

29 to Feb. 13..

Feb. 15 to 25

editerranean fleet for

Easter in Syria, anc

SPITHEAD TO PORTLAND.

Date.

Sept.
U
15
16

Distance.
Steam.

N.W. 3-5, S.W. 37

S.W. 7, N.W. byN. 7-6

N.W. 3 6, N.N.E. 9-8

Distance... 55 miles.

Temperature.

Sea.

Noon.

65
64
64

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

60
60
64

64
64
64

62
64
65

216

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

Sept. loth. — Weighed at 3 p.m. The sun was shining brightly
though the gale continued. Lord Colville and Sir Allen Young
came on board, and the latter proceeded with us as far as
Yarmouth, where we again anchored at 5.30 P.M. Found here
H.M.S. Porcupine surveying. After evening quarters we had the
vaulting horse up for the first time on the quarter-deck and did
some gymnastics. A very dirty night, and barometer very low ;
until the weather moderates it is no use going further down
Channel, as we are not hurried or pressed for time.

Sept. Wth. — At 6 A.M. mids all out at their club and dumb-bell
exercises before breakfast : at 9.30 A.M. weighed and proceeded
under steam through the Needles for Portland. The wind is
blowing a strong gale from the north-east off the land, where it
seems comparatively clear, and thus we take our last look of Christ
Church Bay, then old Harry, Durlston Head, Tilly Whim, the
new lighthouse foundations on Anvil Point, St. Aldhelm's Head,
Chapman's Pool, Encombe, Swire Head, and so on to Lul worth
Cove. In the afternoon, about 2.30 p.m., dropped a target over-
board and fired at it with shot and shell ; the gun, manned by
the marines, shot it clean away. Anchored at Portland at 4.30 P.M.
and found there the Warrior, Boscawen, and Nautilus.

AT PORTLAND.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Sept.
17
18
19 s.

N.KE. 4-6, N.W. 3-4
N.W. 3-4, W.S.W. 6-7-8
W.S.W. 5-6, W.N.W. 1-2

63
62
62

63
62
63

63
60
57

63
61
60

Sept. Vjth. — In the morning running Whitehead torpedoes, one
of which went to the bottom and stuck in the mud, but by dredging
it was set free, rose to the surface, was then secured and taken
on board again. (Each torpedo is worth 500/. We carry only six,
and always practise with two in order not to damage the other four.)
Mr. Perceval, of the Royal Yacht Squadron, came in this afternoon
in the cutter yacht Caprice : he is a keen fisherman and has been
setting his trammel net in the bay. He dined on board, and his

1880.

POllTLAND TO FERROL.

217

various yarns on the subject have acted as an incentive to make us
desirous of following his example elsewhere.

Se'pt. ISth. — Firing at a target a short distance from the ship
with the boat's guns (nine-pounders). The Guernsey steamboat
came into the Roads with a disabled telegraph ship in tow, and a
number of small coasting vessels have taken shelter behind the
breakwater. We hear from Abergeldie that the weather in the
Highlands has been very fine. Here, however, it is still quite
the reverse, with torrents of rain and pretty continuous strong
westerly winds, which would be dead ahead for going down
Channel.

PORTLAND TO FERROL.

Date

From Tkevious

Noon.

At Noon.

Temperatuke.

Distance.

Sea.

Course.

Wind.

Lat

Long.

Sail.

steam

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Sept.

...

KKW. 4-6,
N.W. 3-4

100

N.W. 5-4

49-55

5-1

S. 67 W.

112

N.W. 3-4,
W. 2-3

49-11

7-41

S. 34 W.

...

107

W.S.W. 2-1,
Calm

...

9-11

S. 37 W.

S.S.E. 3,
S.S.W. 2-3

10-21

S. 7 W.

S.S.W.W. 2,

N. 2-3

45-47

10-30

26 s.

S. 26 E.

KE. 2-3, E.
by S. 1-2

44-46

9-48

S. 28 E.

E. by S. 4-5

as.

43 28

8-20

286

334

tal (listan(

;e... 620 mil

Sept. 20th. — The barometer seems slowly rising, and the wind is
now in the north-west and therefore no longer dead ahead, but
on the starboard bow for going down Channel, so at 2.30 we
weighed under steam and proceeded out of Portland Roads.
Fine weather overhead, and there seems every prospect of its
continuing. (It is a curious coincidence that just one year ago we
started from this same port on our first cruise to the West Indies.)
Rounded the breakwater, and then on through the Race, ship
going steady as a rock : Pennsylvania looked very pretty in its

218 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

dell : and so out into the Channel. As soon as the anchor was
catted and fished, after evening quarters, up went the bar and we
were at gymnastics again. We are going very slowly, and only
make between three and four knots over the ground, as there is
a strong tide against us ; the wind is fresh but not against us.
Though we had heard in the morning that the sea was running
high we did not find it so, the ship was very steady all down
Channel. We lost sight of Portland Lights at 7 P.M. and sighted
the Start at 9 p.m., and before turning in thought of our oJd
Dartmouth days. In order that we may realise the more readily
what is going on at home from hour to hour we shall keep the
two little timepieces in our cabin always at Greenwich time. At
present the hours at home and those on board are the same, but
when once we begin to go westward the ship's time will rapidly
get behind English time. Already it feels warmer than at
Portland.

Sept. '^\st. — At 3.80 A.M. observed the light on Plymouth
breakwater, and at 8 A.M. were thirty-one miles off the Lizard.
There were several fogbanks drifting about in the Channel; we were
in one all the forenoon, but got out of it at 11 A.M. ; but shortly
after the dinner-hour another closed over us which came floating
up before the wind, which is now south-west, with mist and rain ;
this gave us a chance of trying new arrangements with the steam
whistle, which kept up its lugubrious, bat necessary sighing all
day. The wind freshened from the south-west in the evening,
drifting the fog before it. We saw the sun go down behind a
double fogbank ; one was a golden colour and the other a dull
leaden grey. The streaks of this latter lay across those of the
former, and were at first lower down on the horizon. They created a
curious appearance as they rose bodily and slowly up off the
surface of the sea, and allowed the yellow to shine out under them
as well as above. At half- past five we are abreast of the Wolf
Kock, and at 8.30 p.m. off St. Agnes and the Bishop ; we are
making very slow progress; there is no wind worth speaking
of, but somewhat of a swell still on.

Sept. 22nd. — Bright clear morning, fog all gone, the sea a magnifi-
cent blue; shaped course for Ferrol, west-south-west. Shoals of
porpoises came plunging round the ship, tempting targets once
more for the harpoon off the glacis, but it is no go. Their flesh is
no use for eating, but their skin makes capital leather. There is
a warmer feeling in the air. We are now about the spot where

1880. PORTLAND TO FERROL. £19

we parted company from the combined squadrons on our return
from Vigo.

Sept. 23r<i. — In the forenoon, after morning prayers, made
plain sail, and after the dinner-hour raised the screw. The sea
was very smooth and there was just a little breeze from the south-
east. Although we are making very little progress yet the quiet
motion of the ship through the water under sail, after the constant
thud and vibration of the screw, was most delightful. Porpoises
still gambolling round. At noon Ferrol is 270 miles distant. It
is seldom that this part of the Bay of Biscay is as we find it to-
day, scarce ruffled by wind or swell. But each of the five times
that we have crossed the Bay in the Bacchante we have been
favoured by most beautiful weather.

Sept. 24th. — Making very little way ; wind nearly all gone.
In the afternoon, after we have had our usual gymnastics on the
horse and bar, it became misty and drizzling, and the wind
falling altogether we were flopping idly about in the centre of the
Bay on the swell which was now coming up from the south-west,
so at 5.30 P.M. got the screw down, but did not steam. After
quarters wore ship and again at 9.15 P.M., the wind being very
light. There was a mist and fog when the moon rcse, and at
10.30 P.M. a fine lunar rainbow in the west. This was on the mist
in the opposite quarter of the heavens to the moon, and formed a
sort of silver arch with very faint prismatic colours. The stars
were glinting and winking mysteriously over the top of it through
the misty vapour, and we thought that if any Danish elves had
lost their way and got so far south they might be dancing along it,

*' Or going up with music
As on cold starry nights,
To sup with the Queen
Of the gay Northern lights."

Sept. 2dth. — At 6.30 A.M. got the screw up again as the fog has
cleared, and set the stunsails, the wind being fair, northerly and
light. At 8 A.M. we were 180 miles from Ferrol. One of the
loveliest days we have yet had, with the sun shining brightly, and
as our course is due south there is a gentle steady breeze right aft.
Existence itself is a pleasure as we glide with a gentle rocking
motion over the sea. After evening quarters let go the life-buoy,
hove the ship to, and lowered the life-boat (making belief that a
man had fallen overboard), picked up the buoy, which of course
had floated astern, in three minutes after it had been first let

220 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

go. The top of these life-buoys is furnished with a self-acting
light which will burn for twenty-four minutes. Directly the
buoy is set free, as it can be by any one on deck, from where it
always hangs in the stern of the ship, it lights itself and so can be
seen on the water during the darkest night. The lights are placed
on the buoys after evening quarters every day at sea.

Sept. 2Qth. — At 8 A.M. we were 100 miles from Ferrol ; almost a
dead calm. With stunsails set both sides, we are only making a
little over two knots ; the sea is as blue as a hyacinth, only a few
clouds flecking the sky ; but slowly up from the north-east came a
breeze, strengthening hour by hour, cool and fresh out of the Bay,
which blew the waves slightly foaming on our port-beam, until after
evening service it was strong enough to carry us along six knots,
and in the first watch over seven. There were a few yellow jelly-
fish floating round us in the morning ; and one great white fellow
kept rolling himself about two feet out of the wa.ter astern and then
subsiding till he rose again. He was too far off to distinguish who
he was or what was his name ; bub be didn't belong to the porpoise
family — his behaviour was quite different from theirs. A number
of gulls and Mother Carey's chickens kept following the ship, whose
breasts, as they wheeled in the sunlight, glanced out a yellowish
brown ; their movements were as graceful as can be conceived as
they thus circled in pairs at play together ; it almost seemed as if
they were aware we were watching and admiring their exhibition.
Beautiful starlight night.

Sept. 27th. — At 5.30 a.m. down screw, shortened and furled sails
before breakfast, and began steaming at seven. Sighted the coast-
line of Spain, with its mountains, through a golden haze, while the
sea is blue and crisped with what is now a headwind for us, as we
make up for Ferrol. We steamed in through the narrow entrance,
which reminded us of the entrance to Dartmouth Harbour, past
two forts on the bare hill-sides, where there is a sharp turn which
brings you right under the guns of one of the forts. At 12.30 we
anchored. It is nearly 10° warmer in here than it was outside. We
can see the Spanish dockyard and towers of Ferrol over the trees
on the Marina, and the training-ship for Spanish naval cadets is
lying moored in the middle of the north side of the harbour. The
captain called on the Captain-General, the Vice-Admiral, and the
Admiral of the port.

Sept. 2Hth. — After morning school the boats were away exercising
under sail; the whaler, in charge of George, did very well. In

1880.

PORTLAND TO FERROL.

221

AT FERROL.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noun.

6 p.m.

Noon

6 P.M.

Sept.

E. 51, N.E. 3.4

E. 3 3, N.E. 2-1

Variable 12

! Oct.

Calms

3 s.

Calms S.W. 3*4

S.AV. 7-6

S.W. 8-6-3, S.S.W. 2-6.

S^ W. 7.10, W^S. 7

W. byS. 3-7, S.W. 3-5

S.S.W. 3-5, W.S.W. 2-4

the afternoon went on shore for a walk, passed the dockyard, which
is extensive but apparently quite deserted, and the huge barracks
are standing now without a single occupant. Then up through the
town, which is large and clean ; the streets are paved with flat blocks
of stone, but no wheel or horse traffic exists. There are some
good shops — one large chemist in particular ; every street is at right
angles to the other ; then up to the north gate of the town. There
are extensive walls all round, with forts which enclose a space ten
times too large for the present inhabitants and which they say has
never been fully occupied. These mediasval walls are now all falling
to ruins. The glass-enclosed balconies, painted bright green, and the
iron banisters in front of the houses have an odd effect. Walked on
outside the gate down a ferny lane to the head of the bay, and then
under huge Spanish chestnut trees amid fields of bright-green
maize to Chamorro, and up the hill, under the pines and over
heather and bracken and quantities of gentian, crocus, and violets,
that burst up from the turf on all sides. From the summit, by
a huge protruding rock which had been blasted and the stone
quarried and carried down the hill for building purposes, there was
a very fine view ; the hills of the mainland of Spain were grey
in the distance to the south, and Betanzos Bay is distinctly visible
over the high land which separates it from Ferrol Bay. Then we
came down to the old church of the Virgin on Chamorro. This is
a most curious old place, and, it is said, and appears to be, built
over Druidic stones ; a huge stone protruding from the earth is

222 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

preserved just inside the entrance ; and the church appears to have
been built thus over an older sacred site. When we looked in,
Vespers were going on, and two or three peasants were on their
knees. In the house which adjoins the west end of the church
and communicates with its gallery, an old couple now live ; but the
larger house at the east-end, probably once occupied by clerics, is in
ruins. Outside the church there is a curious verandah or covered
terrace, facing south, from which the view looking over Ferrol is
very pretty and similar to that from the summit. This shrine of the
Virgin is a favourite one for seamen to frequent before leaving or
on returning to Ferrol. Doubtless many a fervent prayer from wor-
shippers, dead and gone centuries ago, has been breathed to Heaven
from this spot for safe voyage, of self or lover, to the new world
and over the Spanish main and home again ; and other prayers, too,
for less selfish ends, such as, in particular, the overthrow of
England's heretic Queen, before the Spanish Armada left this port,
and for what the worshipper regarded as the good of Christendom
to be thus achieved. These were answered in very deed, though
in a way quite other than the worshipper could have himself
fancied. As we returned to the town we started a black hare and
put up some partridges from the brushwood. We were told that
game is plentiful here, but this is all we saw.

Sept. 2dth. — After morning drill the midshipmen bathed, as also
had the " hands " previously. At school as usual all the forenoon ;
but after dinner went over the dockyard, in which are lying the
Niomancia and the Vittoria, two ironclads, one of which was the
first ironclad that doubled Cape Horn in 1865. The Vittoria
was given by the English (together with Almanza) to the Spanish
Government in 1873 after our Navy had taken her from the
Communists at Cartagena. The head constructor, Senor Bona, a
shrewd, and apparently, a clever man, went round with us and
showed us, amongst other things of his own invention, an apparatus
for taking a double observation. Most of the machinery which is
worth anything was, however, made in England by John Brown.
The great difficulty in getting anything done in the dockyard is
want of labour, no true Spaniard being willing to do one inch of
work : hence for the large outlay on their navy the Spanish receive
very little for their money.

Sefi. SOth. — After bathing and drill we left the ship with the
captain and nine other officers for Corunua. The Vice-Consul,
Don Anton Garcia, met us on board the little steamer which plies

1880. FERROL. CORUNNA. 223

daily across Betanzos Bay between here and Coruima, a distance of
about ten miles. We started at 9 A.M. The morning was foggy at
first, but before we arrived at Corunna, at 11 o'clock, the fog had
completely cleared off. The town lies on two sides of its little bay,
the more modern part on the north side and the old town on that
to the south. We landed from the steamer in a small boat and
walked through the Almada to Mr. Walker's, the British Consul, at
the west end of the town. He then procured a guide, who took us
to Sir John Moore's grave which is at the east end. He is buried
on the bastion of the old fort overlooking the bay, and as the fort
is no longer used for military purposes it has all been planted out
as a flower-garden, and whatever may have been the mournful
circumstances attending the old hero's funeral, his remains now rest
peacefully amid roses, geraniums and orange trees : though it is but
seldom that the footsteps of kindred Englishmen break the lonely
silence of the spot. There is a view off the ramparts of Corunna Bay
beneath on their southern side and of the mountains in the interior.
One postern gate, opening out just below from these fortifications on
to the beach, was pointed out to us as being the one through which
many of the Spanish soldiers marched down on the day on which they
embarked in the Armada. It is marked by a cross over its centre.
We then walked out of the town past some immense barracks and
the Protestant cemetery to the tower of Hercules, a granite-built
light-house 332 feet high. The interior of this is probably the
construction of the Phoenicians, who erected a tower here B.C. 700.
We went inside and to the top. Here we were shown elevations
and plans of the three towers which have stood at this spot : the
present one, whose walls are now seven or eight feet thick, is
evidently built round and outside the others. Nothing short of a
very severe earthquake could shake it down : it is visible sixteen
miles out at sea, and its flashing light for twenty miles. We
walked back into the town, which is cleaner and brighter than
Ferrol, and larger, and in which there are, too, some vehicles
movinor about, thouo^h there are none at Ferrol : we had lunch at a
Spanish inn, and after another hurried visit to the Consul's (whose
child was baptised to-day, as there is no British chaplain resident
anywhere near here) we went down through the gardens on the
Almada and embarked on board the steamer for Ferrol at 3 P.M.
The remains of an iron steamer that had run on the rocks, just
outside St. Antonio, in a fog two years ago, are still to be seen
there. Had a pleasant run across Betanzos Bay, passing several

224 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

strange-rigged boats as used hereabouts : they are flat-bottomed,
have a heavy mast, raking forward, and a huge sail. Arrived at
Ferrol at 5 P.M. in time for an evening bathe.

Oct. 1st. — After dinner manned and armed boats, and then went
with the Vice-Consul and most of the gun-room officers on board
the Asturias, the training-ship for naval cadets. She is not so large
as our own Britannia, but their scheme of instruction is modelled on
ours, only instead of being a two-year it is a three -years course. She
was beautifully clean and well kept, and the arrangements for the
cadets, of whom there are 100, seemed excellent. The cadets
sleep in cots, not hammocks, and these are slung from the beams
between decks in two tiers, so they do not occupy more space than
hammocks would. The mess-room was on deck ; and the studies
are large and with a peculiar arrangement of book places. Most of
the lads are nice sturdy, open-faced youths. We heard nothing of
any cricket field or recreation ground ashore. We went over the
captain's quarters (who was not on board), and into the ward-room,
where there were some interesting pictures in oils of old Spanish
ships.

Oct. 2nd. — A large party of fifteen left the ship by starlight at
5.30 A.M. and pulled two miles across the bay to Seijo (Seiho), where
ponies had been ordered to meet us. They were a very hetero-
geneous collection both as regards beasts and saddles ; some of the
latter were very rough and scarce held together, but others were
the usual gay Spanish saddles made of carpets and side-bags, with
huge bucket-like stirrup-irons. We mounted and rode to Cabeiro.
As we jogged along the road that gradually rises the whole wa\^
the views that opened out were very bold ; first was Pont d'Eume,
with its long bridge and embankment over the mouth of the river
Eume ; the village itself is on the opposite side of the valley.
Here we turned to the left, and, still rising, obtain a wider view
both over Ferrol and Betanzos Bays right away to Corunna with
the tower of Hercules. The whole of this part of the coast of
Spain is indented by large bays, more or less land-locked, and
excellent harbours ; the sea in the distance appears beautifully
blue to-day, while in the interior, range after range of hills open
out, on one of which, opposite, rises a curious tower, which belongs
to the Due d'Alba, a cousin of the Empress Eugenie. After riding
up andup, about 10 A.M. we came, over the sierras, suddenly upon a
deep glen, which opened almost beneath our feet. The road here
was very rough and it was very warm. We arrived at the chapel

1880. EUM15 KIVER AND MONASTERY. 225

of Our Lady of the Snows, where some of the party were glad to
rest in the cool shade for half an hour. Thence we took a boy
for our guide, and began to descend on foot the valley of Eume,
the sides of which are clothed with dense woods of scrub oak,
chestnut and laurel bushes, all of a dark, glossy green ; at the
bottom of the glen runs the Eume, over slag and pebbles, one
of the best trout and salmon rivers in Spain. It was very like a
Devonshire stream, except that the hills are here much higher.
Two of the party returned home in the evening with good baskets
of fish, trout and sea-trout, most of them over a pound. The day
was perfectly cloudless, and the river like crystal; under these
conditions the flies found most taking were a very small Wickham-
fancy, and a small red spinner. We led our ponies down the
narrow path through the woods — a very steep and rocky descent —
to the ruins of an old monastery which stands on the summit of
a knoll rising from the middle of the stream and encircled by it.
The monastery was inhabited till 1855, when Prim's Republican
Government forced the monks to retire. In many parts of the
walls the old chestnut wood beams and carved cupboards still
remain intact in their places. The building could be put in re-
pair for a small sum, and it would make a charming retreat for
any one who liked solitude and fishing. On each side, facing
north and south, are two terraces, on which the monks could
either sun themselves or enjoy the shade ; and the old chapel, in
which St. Kosendo used to officiate, though its roof is gone, is
still all but entire. He it was who mortified himself by wearing
an iron band round his body, which he locked up fast and threw
the key into the river there below, never to be unlocked till his sins
were forgiven. Years after he went away and became a bishop.
One day a fish was caught and taken as a present to the bishop
from the river by his old monastery. When it was opened the
key of his iron belt was found inside, a sign to him that he was
forgiven. On the walls are a few frescoes, very roughly painted ;
that of the Annunciation can be traced in the small chapel of
the Virgin which stands behind the other. The entrance to the
monastery is now over heaps of ordure, as many beasts are stabled
in the gateway, and the outhouses are apparently occupied by a
small farmer ; but once inside the buildings, it was very pleasant.
We lunched on what we had each brought in our pockets, and sat
and looked out on the hills untouched as yet by any tinge of
autumn and all one mass of glossy green, with a bright blue sky
VOL. I. Q

226 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

overhead, and the sound of the rushing waters of the stream below,
into which we soon ran down and bathed. It is just such another
as that described in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage : —

"The horrid crags, by toppling convent crowned,
The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep,
The mountain moss by scorching skies imbrowned,
The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs must weep,
The tender azure of the unruffled deep,
The orange tints that gild the greenest bough.
The torrents that from cliff to valley leap.
The vine on high, the willow branch below,

Mixed in one mighty scene, with varied beauty glow."

Canto i. , Stanza xix .

At 12.30 we started homewards, leading the ponies up the hill
and finding it uncommonly hot. The views this way and
in the afternoon light were, if anything, more beautiful than
in the morning. We much enjoyed our ride back to Seijo,
where we arrived at 4.30 p.m., galloping and skylarking the
whole way. Here we found the cutter waiting for us; rowed
back to the ship in time for a further evening bathe. Found
they had been amusing themselves on board by laying out a
bower anchor and running torpedoes. This province (Galicia) is
full of metals and undeveloped wealth ; but the Spaniard has not
enterprise to work them himself, and is averse to the introduction
of foreign capital. Wages are low, but labourers are lazy; one
Englishman will do more in one day than ten natives. There is
great official corruption and much smuggling in these parts.

Oct. Srd. — Usual Sunday services. In the afternoon many
of the young gentlemen from the Asturias paid the Bacchante
a visit on the captain's invitation, and when some of our mid-
shipmen, who were showing them over the ship, tried to explain
things in French to them, they were met by the reply " We do
not understand English." The commodore from the Vittoria
came on board, and as the barometer was falling fast (from 3027
to 29"84<), he predicted that we should have a gale next day
from the south-west, the usual St. Francis gale at this season.
After evening quarters got in the accommodation ladder, and made
ready to go to sea to-morrow morning.

Oct. ^th, St. Francis Day. — Dressed ship with masthead flags,
Spanish flag at the main, and fired a salute of twenty-one guns at
daybreak in honour of its being the name-day of Don Francesco
d'Assisi, the husband of the ex-queen of Spain and mother of the
present king. The same salute was fired at noon and for a third

1880. AT FERROL. 227

time at sunset, following the motions of the Spanish frigate and
fort. We were to have sailed to-day, but as the barometer is still
steadily falling the captain decided to remain.

Oct. 5th. — Barometer still falling all day, and a stiff breeze from
the south-west early in the morning and again in the evening,
though it lulled in the middle of the day. Brilliant meteors
observed.

Oct. Qth. — Gale from the south-west blowing very strong. The
cutter, that went in to the pier with the stewards before breakfast,
could not get off to the ship till the dinner hour. We let go the
starboard anchor and bent the sheet cable, and for three hours there
was a succession of heavy squalls, during which it was almost
impossible to stand on the poop. In the afternoon, when it
quieted down a bit, a party of five landed and went shooting over
towards Laguna. They came back in the evening without
anything : there are a few partridges, black hare and snipe, but the
exercise of walking on the hills is its own recompense.

Oct. 7th. — The barometer is rising, but the wind has backed,
and it is still squally ; a Spanish gunboat that went out of harbour
in the morning returned in the afternoon. We weighed the
starboard anchor. George went fishing with the captain to the
Jubia river. Very good sport was generally got there, the flies
found most taking were " cock-u bon dhu " and red and black
spinners ; often three or four dozen trout were caught in an
afternoon to one rod.

Oct. 9th. — We left Ferrol at 3.30 p.m. under steam for five knots.
It is much colder since the gale, and there is now a moderate
breeze from the south-west ; outside there is a slight swell, but
nothing to speak of, although we saw a brig in Betanzos Bay,
approaching Ferrol, that was rolling very heavily ; we passed the
steamer from Corunna goitig in to Ferrol, and were off Sisagas
Light about 10 P.M. Coming out of Ferrol is the time to read the
last chapter of Froude's History of England, Ixxi. " The Armada."

(" In 1588, thirty years of peace were supposed abroad to have
emasculated the once warlike English nation, and to have so en-
amoured the people of quiet, that they had no longer energy to
defend their own firesides. The general impression was that if a
well-found army could be thrown on shore in any part of the
kingdom, the power of England would collapse in ruins. London
itself was undefended, and there was not a fortress in the whole
island which would delay an army for an hour. When Elizabeth's

Q 2

228

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE,

1880.

FERROL TO VIGO.

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon,

6 p.m.

Oct.

...

W. byS. 2-6,
vS.W. 1-2

...

lOS.

N.W. & W. 4-6,
S.W. 5-6, S.E. 4-5

42-45

9-30

S.E.4'5,N.W.l-2

42-17

9-6

Distance

... 190 mil(

5S.

naval resources were all counted, including vessels which had been
built by her father and sister, the entire English navy contained
only thirteen ships above 400 tons, and in the whole fleet, including
fifteen small cutters and pinnaces, there were only thirty-eight
vessels, of all sorts and sizes, carrying the Queen's flag. The largest
ship in England at this time belonging to a private owner did not
exceed 400 tons, and of vessels of that size there were not more
than two or three sailing from any port in the country. The armed
cruisers which bad won so distinguished a name in both hemi-
spheres were of the dimensions of the present schooner yachts in
the Cowes squadron. But when the moment of trial came.

]880. THE AEMADA. 229

Hawkins sent the Queen's ships to sea in such condition, hull,
rigging, spars, and running ropes, that they had no match in the world
either for speed, safety or endurance. In ordinary times one or two
second-class vessels alone were left in commission, which discharged
the duties very imperfectly of Channel police. The Navy did not
exist as a profession. The great merchants in every port armed
the best of their ships.

" The spring of 1588 was wild and boisterous beyond experience.
The Armada was to have sailed in the middle of May, but the
weather continued desperate ; a wild winter had been followed by
a wilder spring, and the lengthening days were still the only signs
of approaching summer. The summer as it deepened only became
more and more stormy. Meanwhile the slow, lingering, long-
expected Armada was approaching completion. Three nations,
Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, had furnished their several
contingents. On the fleet itself the treasures of the Indian mines
had for three years been freely lavished. In the six squadrons into
which it was divided, there were sixty-five large ships ; the smallest
of them was of 700 tons, seven were over 1,000, and the largest, an
Italian, was of 1,300. All were built high, like castles, their upper
works musket-proof, their main timbers four and five feet thick.
In Plymouth Sound there were in all twenty-nine Queen's ships of
all sizes ; ten small vessels belong to Lord Howard and his family,
and forty- three privateers between forty tons and 400, under
Drake ; the united crews amounted to something over 9,000 men.
The names of the Spanish and of the English ships, either by
accident or purpose, corresponded to the character of the struggle
— the >S'^. Matthew, the St. Philip, the St. James, the >S^^. John, the
St. Martin, and the Lady of the Bosary, were coming to encounter
the Victory, the Revenge, the Dreadnought, the Bear, the Lion, and
the Bull', imaginary supernatural patronage was ranged against
human courage, strength, and determination.

" The fighting fleet, or Armada proper, consisted of 129 vessels,
the smaller division of 65 galleons of larger tonnage than the finest
ship in the English navy. The store of provisions was enormous.
It was intended for the use of the army after it landed in England
and was sufficient to feed 40,000 men for six months. They sailed
from Lisbon on the 29th May. The northerly breeze which
prevails on the coast of Portugal was unusually strong. The
galleons standing high out of the water and carrying small canvas
in proportion to their size worked badly to windward. They were

230 CRUISE OF II.M.S. BACCHA ^TFE. 1830.

three weeks in reaching Finisterre, where the wind having
freshened to a gale, they were scattered, some standing out to sea>
some into the Bay of Biscay. Their orders in the event of such a
casualty had been to make for Ferrol. There, the weather
moderating, the fleet was again collected by the 6th July. All
repairs were completed by the 11th, and the next day, the 12th,
the Armada took leave of Spain for the last time. The scene as
the fleet passed out of the harbour of Ferrol must have been
singularly beautiful. It was a treacherous interval of real summer.
The early sun was lighting the long chain of the Galician moun-
tains, marking with shadows the cleft defiles, and shining softly
on the white walls and vineyards of Corunna. The wind was light
and falling towards a calm ; the great galleons drifted slowly with
the tide on the purple water, the long streamers trailing from the
trucks, the red crosses (the emblems of the Crusade) showing
bright upon the hanging sails. The fruit boats were bringing off
the last fresh supplies, and the pinnaces hastening to the ships
with the last loiterers on shore. Out of 30,000 men, who that
morning stood upon the decks of the proud Armada, 20,000 and
more were never again to see the hills of Spain. Of the remnant
who, in two short months crept back ragged and torn, all but a
few hundreds returned only to die. The soldiers and sailors of
the doomed expedition against England were the flower of the
country, culled and chosen over the entire peninsula : they were
going upon a service which they knew to be dangerous, but which
they believed to be peculiarly sacred. Every one, seaman, officer,
and soldier, had confessed and communicated before he went on
board. Gambling, swearing, profane language of all kinds had been
peremptorily forbidden. Private quarrels and differences had been
made up or suspended — no unclean person or thing was permitted
to defile the Armada ; in every vessel and in the whole fleet the
strictest order was prescribed and observed. On the first evening
the wind dropped to a calm; the morning after (the 13th) a fair
fresh breeze came up from the south-west, and in two days and
nights they had crossed the Bay and were off" Ushant. The same
night the wind increased to a gale and they hove to. Four galleons
were driven upon the French coast, and another foundered. The
weather was believed to be under the peculiar care of God, and
this first misfortune was of evil omen for the future. The storm
lasted two days, and then the sky cleared, and again gathering into
order they proceeded on their way. At daybreak on the morning

1880. " VENIT IVIT RUIT." 231

of the 20th, the Lizard was under their lee. When the Spaniards
with 150 sail, large and small, first sighted the coast of Cornwall,
Hawkins and Drake had but eighty sail in Plymouth harbour ready
for action ; they came out by moonlight that night and hovered in
their rear just out of cannon shot. Towards eight o'clock the next
morning (July 21st, 1588), the breeze freshened from the west.
The Armada made sail and attempted to close. The high-towered,
broad-bowed galleons moved like Thames barges piled with hay ;
while the sharp low English made at once two feet to the Spaniards'
one, and shot away as if by magic in the eye of the wind. It was
as if a modern steam fleet was engaged with a squadron of the old
fashioned three-deckers, choosing their own distance, and fighting
or not fighting as suited their convenience. On the 27th the
Armada was off Calais. But it was the action before Gravelines of
the 30th July, 1588, that decided the largest problems ever sub-
mitted in the history of mankind to the arbitrament of force.
Beyond and besides the immediate fate of England, it decided that
Philip's revolted Provinces should never be re-annexed to the
Spanish Crown. It broke the back of Spain, sealed the ftite of the
Duke of Guise, and though it could not prevent the civil war, it
assured the ultimate succession of the King of Navarre to the
French Crown. In its consequences it determined the fate of the
Reformation in Germany ; for had Philip been victorious, the League
must have been immediately triumphant, the power of France
would have been on the side of Spain and the Jesuits, and the
thirty years' war would either have never been begun, or would
have been brought to a swift conclusion. It furnished James of
Scotland with conclusive reasons for remaining a Protestant, and
for eschewing for the future the forbidden fruit of Popery, and thus
it secured his tranquil accession to the throne of England when
Elizabeth passed away. Finally it was the sermon which completed
the conversion of the English nation, and transformed the Catholics
into Anglicans. Had the Armada succeeded even partially in
crushing Holland and giving France to the League, England might
not have recovered from the blow, and Teutonic Europe might have
experienced, what France experienced in the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes. The coming of the Armada was an appeal on
behalf of the Pope to the ordeal of battle, and the defeat of Spain
with its appalling features, the letting loose of the power of the
tempests — the special weapons of the Almighty — to finish the
work which Drake had but half completed, was accepted as a

232

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

recorded judgment of Heaven; and the magnitude of the
catastrophe took possession of the country's imagination.")

Oct. 10th. — At 1 A.M. altered course and pointed yards to the
wind, and at 3 A M. were abeam of the light on Cape Villano, and
were off Cape Finisterre at 8 A.M. ; the Cape appears to be on a
lowish island projecting from higher masses above. It is a
bright sunny morning, and several steamers are passing in either
direction. After morning service we are still off Cape Finisterre ; for
there is a strong current against us, and we are only going two and
a-half knots over the ground. It came on to rain towards the
evening, but we were able to see clearly Corcubion Bay, where the
survivors of H.M.S. Captain landed in 1870. After evening
quarters reduced the speed of engines.

Oct. 11th. — We stood off and on the land all night, and in the
morning were still in view of the entrances to the three bays,
Corcubion, Arosa, and Pontevedra ; this last has a fine mountainous
coast. All the forenoon we were prize-firing, eight rounds from
each of our fourteen guns. Harrington, with the marines' gun, won
the first prize, and Tree, with George's gun, won the second. After
picking up the target, we steamed into Vigo Bay through the southern
entrance by Bayona, and anchored in our old berth, off the town,
at 5 P.M., again saluting the Spanish flag with twenty-one guns.

AT VIGO.

Date.

Wind.

Temperaturk.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Oct.

"~o"

Variable 1-2

E. 1-2

Variable 1

Calms and S.E 2

S.S.E. 3-1

17S.

Variable 1

Calms

Calms and W. by W. 1-2

Calms and S.W. 1*4

S.W. 3-5 7

S.W. 3-8

S.W. 6-3

24S.

S.W. 3 1

Variable 1

N.E. 1-2, S.S.W. 3-7

S.W. 5 7

S.W. 7-9, W.N.W. 1

S.W. 3 -6 -8, Calm

S.W. by W. 3 -9 -2

1880. AT VIGO. 233

Oct. 12th. — Usual drill and bathe before breakfast and study
afterwards. In the afternoon landed, went up into the town, and
taking the road which leads away to the west, made for a chapel
which we saw standing on the summit of a hill in the interior.
The country is much greener than when we were here before at the
end of July with the Combined Squadrons. At one place we went
into an old churchyard, and saw a number of skulls and bones that
had been dug up in order to make room for fresh interments, as
there was not much depth of earth on the rocky hill side. These
had been placed in heaps at the back of the church, and one empty
altar tomb there had been crammed with them. The country
paths between the vineyards and the orchards are in many places
paved, and form regular water courses, on each side of which, as
in the shady English lanes, are growing numerous and fine ferns. It
is chiefly in the south of Spain that the Republican feeling is
growing ; here, at Vigo, politics are subordinated to commercial
considerations ; and the members of the municipality unite in en-
deavouring to develop the capabilities of the port, which are great,
and will become still more so when the railways are open from the
interior ; the more ambitious even hope to supplant Lisbon.
Meanwhile the value of land here is fast increasing; a plot that
two years ago would have sold for 500Z., cannot now be got for
3,000/., and building is going on in all directions. The wreck of a
barque, the Laboramus of Dundalk was towed into the bay this
afternoon, having been apparently abandoned by her crew at sea
as long ago as last May, so that she has been drifting about ever
since ; there are signs of fire upon her forecastle and her poop.

Oct. 13^A, St. Edward the Confessor of England. — Eddy's
name-day. Manned and armed boats in the forenoon. The
Spanish Brigadier -General commanding the troops visited the
ship, and on leaving was saluted with eleven guns. It was
damp and showery. Watching the sea-gulls astern of the
ship, where lots of them were swooping over the water after
the garbage adrift. Their curious fidgety ways and silly
looks, as they hang in the air, appear as if they were timid of
swooping for the white filth : one comes down and picks up a
piece in his beak, fluttering the whole time and not touching the
water, and then another, instead of helping himself, flies screaming
after the first, "flutter, flutter, /c?5i>f, ktjv^^;" and then down

^ "And who was Ceyx ? Halcyone was a fairy maiden, the daughter of the beach
and of the wind, and she loved a sailor-boy, and married him ; and none on earth were

234 CRUISE OF II.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

comes another, half hopping, half flying, with his feet tucked up under
him, the very image of silly indecision, but manages to snip up a
morsel, which he swallows on the wing with difficulty, for, apparently,
to move the muscles of the throat while those of the wings are in
full play is not easy ; and so they wheel and wheel in ever-graceful
curves.

Oct. 14!th. — The first sound that comes, borne off the land, in
the morning is the creaking of the ox-carts, like hurdy-gurdies,
and the same noise follows you with a sad and remorseless
monotony wherever you go on shore. Each wheel is made in two
pieces which are bolted together and, being never greased, con-
tribute, with the axle, to drown every other sound in the neigh-
bourhood of the cart. At 7 A.M., we started with the captain
and four others on a fishing excursion to San Pio. We drove
there twelve miles along the road, and then dividing, two of us
proceeded to fish down stream and caught half a dozen trout ; the
rest fished up stream and got eight dozen. We used chiefly
" cock-u bon dhu," " red spinner," and " red ant ; " the day was
occasionally cloudy, and the water a little discoloured with the late
rains. We did not get back till 7 P.M.

Oct. 16th. — To-day, as so many other days, we were busy painting
and smartening up the boats and ship preparatory for an inspection,
often expected in the West Indies, at Bermuda, on return home,
on joining or leaving the Combined Squadron, and now again on
the coming arrival of the admiral with the Detached Squadron.
At 6.30 A.M. we started with the captain and six other officers in
the steam pinnace to go down to the mouth of the bay by Bayona.
We took an old man as a guide — with excellent recommendations —
and six "smell dogs," which were not of much use as it turned
out. Eddy for the first time used his new gun and shot two birds.
We had a happy day in the country and started several coveys of
partridges and some rabbits, but shot next to nothing. The old
man said it was our fault, but we thought it was his. Received a
telegram from England, " The Detached Squadron sailed from
Portsmouth this afternoon."

Oct. 18th. — A lovely summer's day. At 1. P.M., both landed with
the captain for a drive with the British Consul, Senor Barcena, to his

so happy as they. But at last Ceyx was wrecked ; and before he could swim to the
shore the billows swallowed him up. And Halcyone saw him drowning, and leapt
into the sea to him ; but in vain. Then the Immortals took pity on them both, and
changed them into two fair sea-birds ; and now they sail up and down happily for
ever upon the pleasant seas." — Kingsley, Perseus,

1880. VIGO BAY. 235

country house, nine miles distant on the east of the town. (The pro-
per way to pronounce his name is Barthena : the elegant Spaniard
always lisps the C and S, and thus Andalusia is pronounced Anda-
luthea.) His servant drove us along through the town in his trap,
which was built in Scotland and drawn by a nice pair of little black
horses. We went right up to the head of the bay, and he pointed
out where the galleons sunk by Drake lay, and showed the fort below
from which the chain was in those days suspended across to the
opposite side (it is where there is visible on the hill by the water's
edge the remains of another fort). In the archives of the town
there is still the original petition, made by the Spanish admiral, to
the municipality for 120 carts to take the treasure up from the
ships to Madrid. There is also a further document of only a
few days later date saying that these carts were not enough to
transport the treasure and that the admiral requested 300 more.
The carts used were then very small, for the roads were very
rough : as they were also at the same date in England, when nearly
all the treasure taken from the Spanish galleon that went ashore
at the mouth of Dartmouth harbour was carried inland not in
carts at all but on pack-horses. It would appear therefore that
the greater part of, if not all, the treasure had been safely conveyed
ashore before Drake sank the Spanish ships. The French company
that has been lately organised for recovering such treasure by means
of diving is therefore all a mare's nest. There were beautiful views
over the bay as we drove along : we saw the lazaretto below and
the sandy spit on which we had drawn the seine with the Duke
of Edinburgh at the beginning of August. Arrived at the Consul's
house, which stands on the steep slope of the hill in the midst of
woods, and a garden very prettily laid out, like that at Bernstorf :
the autumn flowers are still bright, and there are many roses
and creepers, one, profusely flowered like a potato-blossom, which
nearly covers the house : the camelias, azaleas, the white fuchsias
and large bushy ericas, are still in bloom, and there are but few trees
that have even a tint of autumn upon them. The robins (bisco)
were singing (the only birds we have heard sing in Spain) and their
faint, quiet note reminded us again of England. There are a
great variety of pines, as well as semi-tropical trees, which latter
grow well here. The old house is square built and very solid, with
staircase and verandah in stone outside ; at the southern comer, on
the stone, is sculptured the coat of arms of the Consul's ancestor,
which is significant, as showing that he had signorial rights and

236 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

could cut off men's heads. Beneath is an old dungeon. The old house
was in ruins when he got it ; he put it in order, and made it what it
is. Wandered up the hill behind, through the wood, from openings in
which we look down on to other mountains, pine- clad and with a few
white cottages and churches here and there, and on Redondello village
and the railway just beneath. At one place in the wood there was
a curious invention for frightening rabbits away from the plants
in the garden. It is a small trough suspended at one end of a
pole, at the other end of which is a heavy metal hammer ; the
pole is balanced on a post, about three feet from the ground.
Into this small trough water falls from a spout, and when the
trough is full its weight being then greater than the hammer,
it pitches forward and sinks to the ground ; but immediately
after it has thus emptied itself, it is raised by the weight
of the hammer to its original position. The hammer thus in the
meantime has been brought into contact with an empty iron pot
turned lightly over on the top of a stick. The constant succession
of taps and hammerings thus produced by the water and the weight
frightens the animals, and when there are no more to be frightened,
you remove the tin pot from under the pole, and the trough and
hammer still repeat their see- saw motions but without disturbing
the echoes. Behind the wood the hill-top is covered with heather,
just like Scotland. We had some sweetmeats and wine under the
trees, at one corner, called Buena Vista, where Seiior Barcena is about
to erect a small chapel to please Senora ; and then down into the
garden again, where there are a number of trout in artificial streams,
just like those on the slopes at Windsor, and with a little fountain
and tap too, the very image of one there.

Drove back to town, passing many women on the road carrying
heavy weights on their heads, and spindle and distaff in their hands,
spinning as they walk along ; the distaff being held against their left
shoulder and the bobbin twisted with their right hand. Here and
there, in the walls by the side of the road were also little shrines,
containing representations of the agonies of souls in purgatory ; and
little boxes below to pay for masses to assist them. Sometimes, how-
ever, these boxes serve for the money for the yearly village feast, and
the contents are kept by one man in each parish, who has to make
up the deficiency if the casual offerings of passers-by be not enough.
Before these and other shrines of the Virgin or saints, are deposited
little offerings of flowers, or a few ears of maize and Indian corn,
in gratitude or else in deprecation. Of this last there have been

1880. THE SQUADKON BEGINS TO AERIVE. 237

two crops this year, and the harvest has been very good ; the whole
country is now looking beautifully green. The maize was ori-
ginally brought into Spain by Columbus from Cuba.^ We got
back to the landing-place at Vigo by 6 p.m.

The next few days, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 20th to
22nd October, were windy and squally from the south-west. On
Thursday night and on Friday morning there was much lightning
in the west, but nothing occurred to interrupt the studies and the
ship's harbour routine.

Oct. 23r6?.— At 4.15 A.M. to-day H.M.S. Carysfort, Captain H.
Stephenson, C.B., made her number; she came up the bay and
anchored astern of the Bacchante, at 8 A.M. She left Portsmouth
in company with the Inconstant, on Saturday 16th, was after-
wards detached to look into Plymouth, but shortly after coming
out from that port lost sight of the Admiral and made the
best of her way here alone. Captain Stephenson is delighted
with his new ship, she is handy and very buoyant and her
feathering screw answers admirably, and saves an infinity of
trouble and time, now usually consumed in raising and lowering
screw. He has steamed here against a head wind and heavy
sea, but his little ship rises like a oork over it all. She sails
fairly well too, and has plenty of room : she carries her
guns on the upper deck and thus has her mess deck clear. The
Garysfort has brought us a spell of fine weather — since her arrival
it has been bright and sunny and it is an absolutely calm night.
Dined with Captain Stephenson and much enjoyed hearing news
from him about Abergeldie.

Oct. 25th, St. Cris^pins Day. — We read this morning the words
of Shakespeare's ideal king, Henry V., on the field of Agincourt,
fought on the Day of Crispin Crispianus :

" And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered ;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers ;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile.
This day shall gentle his condition :
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here.

The day is ours !
Praised be God, and not our strength, for it."

Henry V. Act iv. Sc. 3.

Hart wig, Tropical World, p. 165.

238 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

At 2.20 P.M. H.M.S. Cleopatra (Captain F. Durrant) made
her number, and afterwards anchored off the town. She lost
sight of the Incotistant on the 21st and remained two days in
the fog under sail, when she got up steam and came on here.
Her cabins aft are smaller than those in the Carys/ort, owing to the
space which is occupied by the screw well (her screw does not
feather) and to the way her glacis is cut away for the training of
her after-gun. In the afternoon walked about in the town, visiting
an old pottery shop where were all sorts of quaintly shaped utensils
for common use, and then out through the Alameda and along the
La Guardia road, with the noisily creaking ox- drawn carts, to
a curious granite-built sort of wayside inn with a stone portico
and resting-place for mules and horses under the trellised vines.

Oct. 26th. — It was calm in the morning watch, and at 6.15 A.M.
H.M.S. Inconstant was observed entering the bay. At 6.45 A.M.
we saluted the flag of Rear- Admiral the Earl of Clanwilliam, C.B.,
with eleven guns, and at 7.20 A.M. he anchored ahead of us. He
sailed from Portsmouth on the 16th, and has thus taken ten days
to come out. They had very rough weather and have brought it
on with them here, for, though it was calm when she was sighted, the
wind has been gradually getting up from the south-west, till at
midday it was blowing quite fresh (five to seven), and so continued
all the night. On the voyage out she was twice taken aback, and
lost her galley from the stern davits. She must have been in the
centre of the gale on the 21st. The Admiral made the signal that
" the squadron will proceed to sea on Sunday, the 31st, at 10 A.M."
In the afternoon the Cleopatra weighed, and went to the assistance
of a Spanish schooner which had been driven by the gale on to the
rocks at the mouth of the bay. Both of us much enjoyed meeting
our old friends in the gunrooms of the Inconstant and Garysfort,
and comparing notes with them as to their several adventures
since we had last met.

Oct. 2Sth. — In the forenoon, as there was a regular gale blowing,
we let go second anchor ; it is wet, windy and miserable, and the
general-leave men must be having a nice time ashore. The new
jolly-boat built for the captain by White, of Cowes, was brought
out by the Inconstant. In time she may become, with judicious
care and attention, a grand sailing boat. The gale continued
until midday, Friday, when, for a short time, it fell calm, but only
to return with renewed force, on the evening and night of that day
and the morning of Saturday, with heavy squalls and lightning in

1880.

DETACHED SQUADRON STARTS.

23D

the south-west. During the lull Mr. Blake, the chaplain of the

Inconstant, came on board in his collapsible dingy ; when the water

is absolutely smooth, she will carry one person sculling and another

light-weight in the stern, but when there is a lop on, the corracle is

very wet and requires constant baling. A printed programme of the

cruise was sent round to the ships from the Admiral's office ; we are

a month behind the date for starting from here, but doubtless shall

pick it up again at sea.

VIGO TO MADEIRA

Date.

From Previous Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Di.stS,nce.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Wind.

Sail.

steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Oct.

31S.

...

W. by S. 4-1

...

Nov.

S. 33 W.

KW. 4-5,
N.E. 6-2

40-29

10-19

N.87W.

...

KE. 1, S.W.

by W. 5-8,

W.KW. 7-9

40-30

10-48

S. 31 W.

106

KW. 7-9

38-26

12-24

S. 31-30
W.

159

...

N.W. 5-7,
N.E. 5-3

36-11

14-8

S. 34 W.

152

N.E. 5-6

34-6

15-54

126

KE. 4-6,
E. byN. 1-2

650

70.

Total distan

ce ..720 miles.

240 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Oct. Slst. — A thunder-shower ushered in the day. What little
wind there was would be favourable for us when once outside the
bay. At 9.30 A.M. the ships of the squadron had steam up for six
knots, and at this time there was a splendid rainbow, as a good
omen, arching over the course we should steer out of harbour. A
few minutes before 10 A.M. we weighed and proceeded down the
bay in single column in line ahead, Admiral leading, then Cleopatra,
followed by Bacchante and Carysfort, and so went out at the
southern entrance. When clear of the islands the Admiral formed
columns of divisions in line ahead, the Bacchante leading the port
column, abreast of the Inconstant, at six cables (1,200 yards)
distance. We are steering course south-west for Madeira. The
weather is bright and sunshiny (a fair omen for our coming
cruise). All in the ship feel glad that the Bacchante now forms
part of a squadron, and are looking forward with cheerful con-
fidence to the drills and other evolutions which we shall now
do in company with other ships, thereby enheartening every soul
on board to do their very best to win and keep the Admiral's
good opinion. After evening service we stopped steaming and
made plain sail (as there is a nice ' royal breeze ' from the north-
west) which done, the Inconstant and Cleopatra d^t once went ahead.
It was a fine starlight night. Fora Light, Madeira, is distant 558
miles.

Nov. 1st. — A glorious morning with the wind right aft from the
north-east, a bright sun and the sea as blue as a sapphire. During
the morning watch hoisted the screw, which made a considerable
difference in our speed, as we went along eight knots under all
possible sail, stunsails both sides.

** Play with your fancies, and in them behold
Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing ;
Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
To sounds confused ; behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
Breasting the lofty surge : 0, do but think
You stand upon the rivage and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing ;
For so appears this fleet majestical.
Holding due couxsq." —Henry V. Act. iii., Prologue.

The Admiral having made the signal to chase south-west, each
ship is doing all she can. The Cleopatra is dropping a bit; we
passed the Inconstant, who has her screw still down ; the Carysfort
is picking us up ; the little G ships are rolling somewhat. We

1880. VIGO TO MADEIRA. 241

thus continued running all the forenoon; about the dinner hour
the breeze died away, and at 5 p.m. there was a dead calm. This
was (as is so often the case) merely the precursor of a shift of wind.
The calm lasted till 8 P.M. when the wind sprang up in the opposite
quarter from the south-west and freshened, until at midnight it
was blowing pretty stiff ; the morning found us under double-reefed
topsails heading up north-west, and the squadron was somewhat
scattered, having had to wear three times during the night.

Nov. 27id. — At daylight the flagship was about two miles ahead ;
the wind was still freshening but veering round to the north.
After the breakfast hour we took in the third reef of fore and main
topsails and close-reefed the mizen topsail. All four ships were
then in sight, the two smaller ones hull down, the Carysfort steermg
south, the Admiral and ourselves north, and the Cleopatra east. The
Ineo7istant and Bacchante wore at 9 A.M., and when round we were
laying our proper course. The Admiral made the " general recall "
and '■ optional down screw" which we lowered at 10 A.M. Though
the thermometer showed 65° we were glad to stand and get warm
in the sun, which Avas shining brightly the greater part of the
morning. There were several gulls and Mother Carey's chickens,
the latter glossy brown with black tips to their wings, wheeling
astern of the ship. Watching the waves under the action of the
wind, we noticed how on the top of each high one after it had swept
by in its blue majesty all a-wrinkle with the wind and curled over
in foam, a sort of reflex swirl in the face of the wind was gene-
rated, and how this when broken jetted out in spray which flew
off in spindrift and formed a rainbow. It was a sunny afternoon ;
though the wind was still squally and strong, being close-hauled
we only made three and a-half knots ; so at sundown the captain
began steaming to regain station: we were now rolling and knocking
about a bit, and dinner this evening was rather a contrast to that
last night in the dead calm. At sea, four-and -twenty hours often
bring much change, pleasing or otherwise, in the surroundings ;
during the same time life on shore at home would be proceeding
with a monotonous sameness. At half-past ten, having regained
our station, stopped the engines. One roll in the night threw all
the books off their shelves right across the cabin, and tumbled one
of the small field-guns under the poop loose from its moorings
with a fine noise.

Nov. Srd. — During the morning watch shook out the reefs of the
topsails and made sail to starboard stunsails and raised the screw.

VOL. I. R

242 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

A lovely morning, wind nearly right aft. Such weather makes
mere existence a pleasure, there is a crisp feel in the air. A small
blackbird, something like a starling, only with beautiful blue spots
on his plumage, settles exhausted on the rigging. The ships are
sailing against each other under all possible sail, and at noon we
are making nine knots. The Gary sf art is leading, but we were
catching her up when the signal was made to " take up appointed
stations for the night " ; we ran along all that night over eight
knots. At 9.30 p.m. the CharyMis made her number as she passed
the squadron on her way home from the China station.

Nov. 4<th. — A lovely morning, the wind right aft, stunsails set
both sides. At 8 a.m. we are 260 miles from Madeira ; the weather
is growing warmer and very enjoyable ; every one seems fresh and
happy and the school and exercises are going on well. In the
evening tliere was much lightning in the north-east.

Nov. oth. — The Carysfort has dropped astern a good deal during
the night, and the squadron reduced sail to allow her to come up.
The wind is now blowing steady from the north-east, the regular
Trade, and so continued till we reached Madeira. We have our
regular gymnastic drill before breakfast and in the afternoon. To-
day, in the forenoon, as always on Fridays, general quarters, which
consists in running the guns in and out, going through motions of
loading and firing, and laying broadsides, &c. as in action, as well
as getting up shot and shell from the magazines. There is a white
whale following us, turning and rolling in the waves in the wake of
the ship. Three pretty little birds with black spots on white
breasts, something like starlings, settled in the mizen rigging ; they
were quite exhausted and very tame. We chopped up some raw
mutton in thin strips to look like worms, and put it here and
there on the poop ; after eying it wistfully for a short time they
hopped down and devoured it eagerly, and then went off into
the cutter at the davits to sleep and woke an hour or so afterwards
chirping merrily. An old cat we have on board improved the
occasion and came prowling out along the deck ; but the birds had
recovered their strength and made light of her attentions. They
had an opportunity of going on shore in the afternoon, as we
sighted Porto Santo at 4 P.M.

Nov. 6^A.— Sighted Fora Light at 1.30 A.M. At 4.30 A.M. and
again at 5.30 A.M. altered course as necessary to make up for the
anchorage at Funchal on the south side of the island. Saw the
sun rise over the rocky Desertas. What a contrast when we were

1880.

MADEIRA.

243

last here the same month a year ago ! (p. 34). The flagship anchored
at 8 A.M. off the Loo Rock and the Cleopatra soon afterwards. The
Garysfort and ourselves were tacking about all the forenoon, as
under the high land of the island the airs were variable and
baffling. Came to in forty-three fathoms just about the dinner
hour, but the Garysfort not till three. H.M.S. Tourmaline (Captain
R. Dennistoun) is anchored close in to the shore, looking much the
same as when we first saw her anchored at Barbados on Christmas
Day 1879 (p. 50). We little thought then how she and ourselves
were destined to sail together round the world with a Flying
Squadron. In the afternoon landed at the steps at the back of
the Loo Rock with three messmates. At the landing place there
is a curious crane which is turned out with long swinging chains;
when the surf is running so high that a boat cannot come along-
side she is by means of these raised aloft and swung ashore. It

AT MADEIRA.

Date.

Nov.

7S.

Wind.

Variable 1 -3
N.E. 5-6 1
Variable 1

Temperatube.

Sea.

Air.

Noon. 1 6 P.M.

Noon.

1
6 p.m.

68
68
67

o j o

67 I 69
69 1 69
69 1 69

75
72
69

is not required to day, as the water is as smooth as can be. At
the end of the pier we mounted the horses (which we had secured
at ten shillings a day by telegraphing from Vigo to Souza's livery
stables in Rua do Bispo, though the usual hire is 8Z. a month) and
rode through the town of Funchal, which extends for a mile and
a-half along the margin of the Bay ; its curious narrow streets are
paved with short rough slabs of pumice stone. It is a bright warm
English summer's day, thermometer over 70°, and the lovely purple
flowered Bourgainvilleas which trail over the walls of many gardens
as we pass fill the air with their sweet scent. Each horse is
followed by a man, who keeps up with it by clutching hold of
the tail with one hand, and waves a yak of horsetails with the
other to keep off the flies. The men are said to be able to run for
thirty miles thus. We went out to the east of the town past the
flower and fruit market and along the narrow stone-paved road,

K 2

244 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

with walls on either side, that leads on and up with many a fine
view of the bay below to the " Little Corral." We halted there at
the Terrace on the roadside and looked down at the valleys
that stretch up into the country before us. All the sides of these
valleys are terraced and cultivated with little gardens of sugar-
cane, yams, and sweet potatoes. It was very warm in the sun, and
very cool indeed in the shade of the trees. There seemed a vast
contrast between the two ; which must we should think be trying
for invalids. There are many fine oaks, planes, and eucalyptus
trees, lots of scarlet geraniums, fuchsias and yellow furze all
abloom in the open. Each house stands in its own garden. The
men who run with the horses have developed remarkably strong
haunches from so doing. We came down from the Terrace, mounted
again, and rode on to the Convent of Nossa Senhora do Monte :
went into the church there, the several altars of which appear
rather tawdr}^ though the artificial flowers in St. Anthony's side
chapel were very pretty. After standing for a short time on the
top of the flight of steps in front of the convent towers we walked
to the basket sleighs just outside and were shot down the hill. Two
people sit in one sleigh, three men run you down, two of whom,
one on either side, hold ropes which are attached to the front
corners of the sleigh, and with these they steer or check its course
as the third man shoves behind. They run you down the road
that goes direct at a very steep incline from the Convent to the
town, paved with little square stones like all the streets, and with
houses on either side. The men stopped for a drink of wine half
way down, but it is brutal stuff. The sensation in coming down
the hill at this high speed is very like that on "a Russian ice-hill";
there is a strong smell of fire produced from the friction of the
wooden runners of the sleigh on the small stone pavement. A
shilling apiece for each man, three shillings for one sleigh from the
Convent to the bottom, is the ample and proper fare. Came off to
the ship in the officers' boat at 6 P.M. Two-thirds at least of the ex-
port trade of the island is British, and spite of the heavy Portuguese
protection dues more than half the imports are also British.

Nov. 8th. — Started at 10.30 AM. from the ship (with a party of
thirteen), to ride up to the ** Grand Corral." We mounted our
horses at Pontinha, and a little way to the north-west of the town
were joined by Prince Louis of Battenberg, and Caulfield from the
flagship. Captain Dennistoun and Captain Durrant were also to
have joined our party, but they went on ahead and got taken by

1880. MADEIRA. GRAND CORRAL. 245

their guides to the " Midsliipman's Corral," that is, to the east
end of the Grand Corral instead of the west. The ride to this
is shorter, but the view not nearly so good ; the road thither turns
off to the right by the church with a fountain in front of it. We
took three hours to ride up (it is said to be sixteen miles from
Funchal), spent one hour there, and took three hours coming home.
At first we ride along the usual narrow stone-paved roads between
high walls with vineyards, now bare of grapes, but with autumn
tints on the leaves, which are trained on trellis-work on either
side ; but after a short time the road strikes up the ravines and
mountain passes which deeply furrow the whole island. These,
which are all natural watercourses, are spanned by long stone
bridges, and their red-earthed and fertile sides are carefully
terraced and cultivated. The bright green of the sugar-cane, the
little thatched huts with pointed roofs, and the bamboos, bananas,
and yams, which were growing on these plats, remind us strongly
of the West Indies. The heliotrope, the hydrangea, and the double
scarlet geranium are growing wild everywhere, and forming thick
hedges ; a bulbous lily too, of a faint lilac colour but with no green
leaf, was very plentiful. The road kept mounting and mounting ;
and looking back we had a fine view of the red cliff at the west
end of the island, that runs down sheer into the sea. We then
came to Estreito, with its oaks and firs, and passed a large house on
the left-hand side, the Qiiinta Bainbridge, which is situated rather
too high for living in with convenience, though the air is more
invigorating here than lower down. We then pass into a wood of
aged chestnut-trees — the remains of those woods whence Madeira
is said to have derived its name as the land of Materies, or timber —
still mounting towards the right, and up through its slopes, out
on to a grassy plateau, looking over the edge of the "Grand Corral,
which is a huge valley or chasm in the centre of the island, two
miles long and half a mile broad, shut in by the highest peaks,
which are very precipitous. We stand on the west side of this
and look down upon the valley over the edge of the cliff, which
breaks away sheer 2,000 feet below. The summits of the hills
suiTOunding this huge hollow, at this height five or six miles acroFS
at least, are all clear cut and jagged. Away to the north rises the
peak Ruivo, the highest on the island (6056 feet); the cold air of the
north-east Trade is pouring over its summit from the north side,
and turning into cloud vapour which floats languidly down towards
us. After scrambling up to the top of the grassy hill, which rises

246 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

on the south or right-hand of the plateau we are on, and from
which there is a wonderful view looking down into the " Corral," we
sat and ate the luncheon we had brought with us, supplementing
it with baskets of fine and most refreshing apples, which a number
of native peasants, although we had seen no cottages near, came
forth from the wood and produced. After enjoying ourselves here
we came down, striking off the path by which we had mounted,
about half-way back to Funchal, and so got upon the New Road
which led down by the sea, home along which we cantered and
raced each other. The ponies were very good, strong and sleek (they
are fed chiefly on the leaves and stalks of sugar-cane), and carried
us admirably. We got off to the ship at 5.30 P.M. ; both of us
dined with Prince Louis at 7 P.M. on board the Inconstant. German
corvette arrived.

Nov. 9th. — Prince of Wales's birthday. After drill at 6 A.M. we
bathed over the ship's side ; the water was very warm. Admiral made
signal " Will sail to-morrow at 9 A.M. for St. Vincent." In the after-
noon landed on the beach in a shore boat into which we got from
the gig which took us in to within 100 yards of the beach; there
was no surf breaking to-day but the beach is very steep to. Walked
into the town to an old woman with lace, where we saw some
pretty netted silk shawls, and then to the consul's (Mr. Hayward),
to the photographer's, to Souza's livery stables, and so through the
town up to the cemetery through the usual Bourgainvillea hedges.
There was a man with a number of very pretty little brown birds
with long black tails for sale in cages, and parrots of all kinds, but
we did not get any, but came off from the Pontinba with the
captain in his galley at 5 P.M. There was a lovely sunset, the colours
crimson, yellow, and green : the water every shade of blue from
silver up to purple : the cold moon overhead and all as calm as
possible. After dinner we had a ** Snowdrop Minstrel " entertain-
ment on board, to which about ten officers from each of the other
ships in the squadron came. The men had an extra meat and
pudding supper. The captain received a telegram from the Prince
of Wales at Sandringham thanking him and the officers, and the
ship's company, for the congratulations we had all sent him by
telegraph this morning. There appears every prospect of a breeze
to-morrow, the air this evening is 10° cooler than it was at noon,
and is already all astir.

Nov. 10th. — At 6.30 A.M. arrived H.M.S. Humler. Got away
under sail at 11.10 A.M. but had some difficulty in getting out from

1830.

MADEIRA TO ST. VINCENT.

247

MADEIRA. TO CAPE DE VERDE ISLANDS.

25- 20* 15- jl

J 5

MADEIRA

/l1. NOV. 80.

/ VanaRY Is.

is/

/—

/l4

/l5

J <

(

!^ —

fl^

I QC

S.Antonio/ ,,_ ^^ ^^^^^ .^^

25- 20' 1

Datk.

From Previous Noon. , At Noon.

Temperature.

Course.

Distance.

Wiud.

Long.

Lat.

Sea.

Air.

Sail. 'Steam.

Noon,

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Nov.

■

N.W.N.E2-3

...

S. 25 W.

116

N.E. toE. 3-4

30-52

17-50

S. 28 W.

165

...

E.3-4,S.E.5-6

28-27

19-20

S. 29 W.

119

E.S.E. 3-4,
S.E. byE.3-4

26-43

20-25

1 14S.

S. 26 W.

1?0

...

E.S.E. 3-4,

N.E. 4-5

24-47

21-30

I 15

8. 26 W.

162

N.E.byE.5-6

N.E. 5-6

22-20

S. 23 W.

108

162

N.E. 5-6, E. 5

18 51

24-25

800

162

Total distance 962 mil

es.

248

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

under the lee of the high land, as had also the Tmtrmalinc and
Cleopatra, the wind coming in puffs, followed by tantalising calms,
but at last we caught the breeze over the lower land at the east end
of Madeira, and rejoined the Admiral who was waiting for us to the
southward ; picked up the trade wind and ultimately in the first
watch went along over seven knots. Lost sight of Madeira in rain
and mist.

Nov. 12th. — Admiral made signal to chase at 8 A.M. The peak
of Teneriffe is said to be visible to the south-east, but though
turned out at sunrise at 6.30 A.M. could not see it ; there were only
a few clouds on the horizon in that direction. We are runninsf
alon,sf all the morninf' and forenoon at eio^ht knots. Mr. Ruskin

IN THK ^ORTH-EAST TKADJuS.

once said that, " take it all in all, a ship of the line is the most
honourable thing that man as a gregarious animal has ever pro-
duced," and certainly the sight of England's oaken and iron
walls combined tearing through the black water fills one with a
sense of strength and joy such as nothing else can give. At noon
the Admiral hoists the dinner pennant in order to set the time
for the squadron : off the deck of the Bacchante the flagship appears
leading the weather line with the Tourmaline and Cleopatra sailing
after her : the Carysfort is sailing astern of us, but often runs
close up alongside. The Inconstant is sailing right away from the
other ships, the Tourmaline is beating us, the Cleopatra is dropping

1880.. MADEIRA TO ST. VINCENT. 249

astern (she has 100 tons more dead-weight in her than the Carys-
fort). At 1.30 P.M. flagship hove to for a funeral ; and all the ships
hoisted their ensigns half-mast high. At 4 P.M. the wind died
away until it was nearly a calm, but freshened up again as befoie
to a steady Trade. At noon we are 760 miles from St. Vincent.
We carried away the port foretopmast stunsail boom, wringing the
boom iron in so doing : this is the third that has gone since leaving
England. The fore yard had to be lowered and the iron heated
and straightened : this took about three hours. The Bacchante was
" guide of the fleet " in the meantime.

Nov. ISth. — Chasing all day again and running a steady six
knots the whole of the twenty-four hours. The flagship, however,
remained under small sail waiting for the Cleopatra. Pleasant
shade all over the ship from the sails, the sun being directly
forward. Lots of flying-fish about, and a regular Trade sky flecked
with clouds. At sundown the Admiral made to us '• Keep on my
port bow not less than two cables, and keep within signal dis-
tance," so that practically the formation for the night was in the
shape of a St. Andrew's cross, the flagship being in the centre, the
Tourmaline and Cleopatra at the starboard ends of the arms, and
the Bacchante and Carysfort at the port ends.

Nov. IMh. — At 5.30 A.M. the moon set ; as she went down her light
appeared almost red, and was quite trying for the eyes to gaze at.
This morning the Admiral put us into whites, and made a signal
about the ventilation of the ship, so we got more windsails up,
as the main-deck ports were generally closed at sea. The windsail
is a funnel made of canvas ; the upper part is suspended from the
rigging, the cap with its large ears is set to face the quarter from
which the breeze may be coming, and by this means a current of
cool air is introduced down below. Had the usual morning service
between decks, and at 10 p.m. passed into the tropics (23°27'
north), rolling along with the wind right aft, seven knots.

Nov. 15th. — In the afternoon Admiral made signal to Bacchante
" Prepare for full speed trial to-morrow," so after evening quarters
down screw, which caused us to drop astern of the other ships a
bit, although we still went over seven knots.

Nov. 16th. — At 3 A.M. commenced steaming, having furled sails.
The twelve-hour trial commenced at 4 A.M. ; we soon caught up
and passed the squadron, and lost sight of them at 7.30 A.M. as vye
were now going fourteen knots, and they were only sailing a little
over seven ; we kept this average up till 12.30, and then the bearings

250

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

got heated and we had to ease down to thirteen, to twelve, to ten,
and eleven knots (cp. p. 193). As to the flying-fish not flying, we
distinctly watched one this morning when out of the water, and
therefore quite white in the sun, who, after sailing down a long roll
of wave, flapped his wings, altered his course, and wriggled the whole
of his body. At 6.15 p.m. observed land on the starboard bow, and
at 9 P.M. sighted San Antonio, the most northerly and largest of
the Cape de Verde group, and steamed along its coast ; sighted St.
Vincent at half-past ten, came in and anchored at 11.30 P.M., passing
the strange Bird rock on our port hand, which in the moonlight
looked like a huge ship under sail. Found German sloop here.

AT ST. VINCEKT.

!
Datk.

WlKD.

Temperature.

Sea.

'Air.

Nov.

Noou.

6 P.M

1
Noon.

6 P.M.

o .

N.E.

2-4

N.E

4-3

N.E.

2-3

Nov. 17th. — At 6 A.M. shifted berth. The Inconstant came in
under sail at 9.30 A.M., and the Carysfort under sail soon afterwards.
She came in to the northward of Bird Island, and when proceeding
to take up her berth, passed somewhat close to the Bacchante, her
wicked-looking snout popping up and down within a few feet of
our port side for a few minutes. The Tourmaline came in at
2.20 P.M. We are coaling all day, and take in over 300 tons in
the twelve hours ; it is brought off in large iron lighters that are
towed out by a steam-tug. From where we lie at anchor we can
distinctly see how the outline of the volcanic hills on the south-
west side of the anchorage represent vividly and unmistakably the
outline of Washington's face ; and turning round can see another
large profile on the east side with a long straight nose and mouth
wide open star-gazing. These islands belong to the Portuguese.

Nov. ISth. — Landed in the afternoon to see the cricket match,
the Squadron v. the St. Vincent Club. This last consists chiefly
of the sixteen telegraph clerks, who are constantly employed at
this centre of ocean cables. The Bacchante sent four as her share of

1880. ST. VINCENT, CAPE DE VERDE ISLANDS. ^51

the winning team. Squadron, first innings 76; second innings 156.

St. Vincent Club, first innings 53; second innings 30 and seven

wickets to fall. The cricket is here played on a sandy plain, with

a strip of cocoa-nut matting pegged down between the wickets ; it

plays pretty true. There is not a blade of grass on the island ; a

few retama-like shrubs and a tough sort of green-leaved thing, by

the side of what appears a dry watercourse, are all the verdure that

is visible. In the town, which is clean and well paved, there are

however a few palm-trees on the Praca, which are watered every

morning. The town they call Mindello, and there are two streets

called, the Rua do Duoro, and the Rua do Minho, although there

is not a drop of water to be seen in them. Walked away to look

at the three cemeteries, each of which is surrounded with white

walls, but of course there is not an atom of green anywhere ; all is

dry, red, sandy, rocky and hot. The pleasantest walk is one which

goes along the sea shore on the south side of the bay, where there

is a fine sandy beach, covered with shells ; after passing the obelisk,

you get a good view of the opposite island of San Antonio ; the

strait that runs between that island and St. Vincent is always

obscured by the mist whi(^h is generated by the trade wind blowing

through it. This hangs there as a veil of cloud, over the summit of

which the hills (between 6,000 and 7,000 feet high) of the island

beyond are generally protruding. It is this moisture which clothes

their sides with herbage, whose varying tints of green present a

striking contrast to the dusky and arid brown of St. Vincent.

Coming back into the town, went to the Temperance Restaurant,

good, clean, and snug, first established by Corry Brothers, but now

entirely self-supporting, and chiefly patronised by merchant skippers.

Scarcely a day passes without one or more steamers calling at

St. Vincent. Every atom of wood in the construction of the houses

has to be brought from America. There are three large coal-yards

and jetties, and quite a small fleet of colliers lying in the bay. The

contrivance for carrying coal from the yard where it is stowed to the

shipping wharves, a distance of half a mile, is very conspicuous.

A row of tall posts like those used for telegraph wires are placed

about four yards apart, and support on small iron rollers a long

endless wire, to which are hung at intervals large metal buckets

containing the coal. There is an incline from the depot to the

wharf, and consequently as the full buckets travel down to the

lower end of the circuit, (where they are canted so as to discharge

their contents into the hghters,) the empty buckets pass up the

252 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

incline back to the coal-yard. There are very few whites resident
in the island, the manual labour is chiefly done by negroes (the
temperature was about 80° at noon to-day), whom we also met,
some careering on donkeys over the plain and carrying sheep under
their arms; and others hauling and shoving black bullocks, who
were said to be on their way to a land of Goshen on the south
side of the island ; if it exists it must be very small, for water is
very scarce, and we saw nothing like a stream anywhere. There
were a lot of grasshoppers about, and some dry grass with small
seeds on which the quail live, of which Smythe went out and
shot three.

We went into the curio shop, where the curios are the same as
you get at Madeira only dearer — basket-chairs, wood boxes, &c.,
and mats from the African coast. There were, however, a number
of pretty little birds, some very small green and red parrots, and
some little tomtit- like creatures with blue breasts, said to be
Benguelo birds. Coming off to the ship noticed shoals of fish in
the bay.

Nov. Idth. — Manned and armed boats. Arrived from England
the Pacific mail steamer Neva, with our mails, and many parcels
"not to be opened till Christmas." A shower of rain fell in the
forenoon : this is said to be a curiosity here. In the afternoon
a torpedo was fired from the end of the lower boom in the water,
when numbers of fish were killed and taken on board. After-
wards the steam pinnace went away and fired a hand-charge of
gun-cotton in amongst another shoal ; many fish were stunned and
floated about on the top of the water ; the bluejackets in various
boats of the squadron that happened to be about rushed to the
spot and hauled them in by handfuls over the gunwale, for they
were quickly recovering themselves from the shock and swimming
away. Some came up and swam for a time with their heads down
and their tails up in a most curious manner. Squadron having
completed coaling prepared for sea.

Nov. 20th. — Weighed under sail in succession; first at 7.30 A.M.
the Tourmaline and Carysfcrt, then Cleopatra and flagship, and
lastly Bacchante at 9 A.M., and then got up the screw. There was
a light breeze from the north-east. Just as we started H.M.S.
Wye arrived from the southward. The lower part of San Antonio
was enveloped in mist and clouds as usual, but upon what we could
see of its sides there seemed to be a considerable amount of
green. W^e unfortunately got under the south side of the island,

1880. CAPE DE VERDE ISLANDS TO THE PLATE. 253

and so lost the wind which was blowing on the opposite side
of the Channel and nearer in to San Antonio; after a bit we
managed to work back into it, and then formed columns of
divisions in line ahead, open order. We hove to at 7.30 P.M., for
the flagship and Tourmaline had let go lifebuoys and lowered boats
for a man overboard, who was picked up all right. Monte Video
3,494 miles distant.

Nov. 2\st. — Fine Trade, all the ships bowling along and sailing at
large, the Carysfort passed us to windward after morning service.
In the evening shortened sail for the rest to come up. The next
day we went aloug in the same way, and made 150 miles by noon ;
but the sky was now obscured with clouds, and there was a damp,
close feeling in the air (thermometer 77°) ; at midnight we went to
night quarters. On Tuesday proceeding as before, with this variety
in drill, that in the afternoon we mids were exercised at sail drill
aloft on the mizen mast. Towards dusk there fell some very heavy
tropical showers, after which the wind headed us, and there were
squalls from east to south-east; again at midnight we went to night
quarters, and this time fired electric broadsides, &c. On Wednesday
(24th) took up our appointed stations, and after sailing along four
and six knots all the forenoon, came into regular doldrum weather
after evening quarters, breeze all gone, heavy rain, which lasted con-
tinuously with squalls all night ; just before sundown we observed
a waterspout, and on the following day we had the last of our sailing
on this side of the line, and made only between seven and eight
miles during the whole of the twenty-four hours, although the
current bore us more. On Friday (Nov. 26th), before daylight,
the Admiral made signal to " Get up steam, the Inconstant will
tow the Carysfoi't and the Bacchante will tow the TonrmalincV
At sunrise the temperature is 80°. Although we are now, this
morning, 300 miles away from any land, yet, looking out at dawn
on the grey glassy ocean eastward, the delusion is strong that
land is near — ^just in the same way as in the desert men are
affected by the mirage of water. At 9.20 A.M. we furled sails
and proceeded, under steam, close up alongside the Tourmaline \
she gave us a four and a-half inch steel wire hawser, which
we made fast to our port towing bollard, and proceeded with
her in tow at 10.45 A.M. In the meantime the Inconstant had
taken the Carysfort in tow. The sunset this evening was quite
different to any other we have seen elsewhere. The weather had
been showery and squally, and all round the horizon were resting

254

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

cool, grey, silvery clouds, like a veil, an effect we have often
seen in pictures of the Arctic regions. Above and behind this
there was a golden and bronze-coloured glow and strips of light-
green sky, and this was not only all round the horizon, but also
extended all up and across the whole vault of heaven from one
end to the other ; there was no difference in the east or west, in

ST. VINCENT (CAPE DE VERDE ISLANDS) TO MONTE VIDEO.

the north or south, but all was one beautiful canopy of most
delicate tints, in which there was nothing gaudy, and no colour
was pre-eminent but all were harmonised together. Some of the
cloud- forms were rounded, and some were streaky, some were
behind others that lay close in the foreground. The sea was dark
blue, slightly rippled and heaving with the faintest swell, but there

1880.

CAPE DE VEEDE ISLANDS TO THE PLATE.

255

ST. VINCENT (CAPE DE VERDE ISLANDS) TO MONTE-VIDEO.

Date.

From Pkevious Noon.

At Noon.

Temperature. |

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Course.

Nov.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6p.m. 1

...

N.E. byE. 1-2

16-49

25-8

21S.

S. 6 W.

S.E. 2, N.E. 3-4

15-26

25-18

S. 3W.

151

...

E. l.y S. 4-6,
N.E. 7-3

12-55

25-26

S. 3W.

164

E.N.E. 3 -7 -5

10-11

25-36

S. 8-30 W.

123

EN.E.4-5,S.S.E.

8-9

25-54

7.4, E. by S. 3-5

S. 8-30 W.

86 ...

N.W.3-4,N.E.by
E. 4-6, ES.E. 4-5

6-44

26-7

S. 13 W.

S.E. 5-7,
Variable 1

5-34

26-24

27 ■

S. 8-30 W.

...

121

S.E. 3-4

3-35

26-6

28S.

S. 7 W.

...

101

S.E. by S. 4-5

1-55

26-22

S. 25 W.

...

119

S.E. by S. 5

0-8
S.
1-48

27-13

S. 30 W.

104

S.E. by S. 5

28-12

Dec.

S. 28 W.

135

S.E. 3-4, S.E. by

E. 5

S.E. 4-5

3-47

29-15

S. 27 W.

129

5-41

30-14

S. 26 W.

122

...

S.E. 4-3

7-32

31-18

S. 25 W.

156

S.E. 3-4

9-52

32-16

5S.

S. 25 W.

145

S.E. by E. 3-4

12-3

33-20

S. 24 W.

114

...

S.E. 3-2,
S.E.^S. 4-6, E.

13-46

34-9

S. 26 W.

132

N.E.3-5,E.byN.4

15-44

35-9

S. 24 W.

118

E. by S. 3-4

17-31

36-0

S.; 19 W.

133 [ ...

E. by S. 3-4,

19-37

36-46

E.N.E. 3-4

S. 18 W.

157

E.N.E. 4,

N.N.E. 3-4

22-6

37-39

S. 16 W.

140

N.N.E.toN3-4-5

24-15

38-22

12S.

S. 37 W.

...

N.N.W. 2-1

24-55

38-54

S. 40 W.

N.W. 1, N.E. 1,
N. 2-3

25-56

39-51

S. 36 W.

131

N. 2-3, N.E. 3-4

27-42

41-18

S. S8 W.

151

N.N.W. 4-5

29-40

43-5

S. 54 W.

124

N.W. 3-2, S.E. 4

30-52

4.V3

S. 54 W.

138

N.E. 3-6, N.E.
5 6, W. by S. 7-5

32-12

47-14

S. 49 W.

103

S. 3-4, S.E. 3

33-20

48-46

19S.

S. 57 W.

132

N.E. 2-5, N. &
N.W. 6-4

34-32

50-59

S. 82 W.

N. to N.E. 1-4, E.
to S.E. byE. 2-3

34-41

52-28

S. 80 W.

103

...

S.E 3, EN.E. 3,
N. to E.N.E. 1-2

34-59

54-20

Tota

distance ...

...

N.E. 4 to 2
les.

3258

452

... 3710 mi

256

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

18t;0.

were no waves, and no wind. This reminded us of the painting
named Ew.2nre of the Sea, in the Royal Academy of 1879.

The next two days we were steaming persistently along, aver-
aging about five knots, with fore and aft sail set occasionally;
the breeze was fitful — generally coming up from the south-east —
we were just on the limit of the South-east trade which is trying
to work up from the other side of the line.

Nov. 2dth. — The Trade is now coming up refreshingly from the
South-east and we are steering south-west. After divisions Neptune
hailed the ship, and came on board the portside : we crossed the line
at 10 A.M., so he and Amphitrite stayed with us till the dinner hour,
during which time the ship's company were employed in making his

CROSSING THK

acquaintance. A bluejacket, named Goodfellow (captain of the
quarter-deck), made a sturdy, thickset, and hairy King of the Sea
and acted the part uncommonly well. He and his shy little
" Amphitritty " (Barton, boatswain's yeoman) came aft with their
attendants, where they were met by the captain and those of the
officers who had crossed before, and received from them tribute in
the shape of sardines, pots of jam, pipes, pickles, and 'cake for the
bears to eat.' Then the two took their seats side by side on an
extemporised throne over the engine-room hatchway. Meanwhile
the lower stunsail had been rigged up in the starboard gangway
so as to form a large tank, which had been filled with sea-water

1880. CROSSING THE LINE. 257

The contents were constantly renewed so as to keep the depth of
water about five feet. At the after end of the tank a platform
of gratings about six feet high above the deck, and on a level
with the hammock nettings, and with a ladder up to it, had
been erected, and on this stood "the shavers," under the first
lieutenant's superintendence. Doctor Gideon Delemege was the
only one of the ward-room to be shaved, but all the gun-room
(except Murray and Moore) and about 230 of the crew were
operated on. These were all sent between decks and brought up
one by one blindfolded, and presented to His Majesty with a few
words from the senior member of their mess, descriptive of the
character they each bore in the ship. Neptune then, after ex-
changing a few observations with his new acquaintance, gave
directions as to which of the four various sized razors was to be
employed. They passed on and mounting the ladder sat down in
a chair on the platform for the operation. " The barber" was ac-
companied by " the doctor with pills" in readiness, and his attendant
with " smelling salts," in case any one should require his assistance,
which was given quite gratuitously and freely proffered to all. This
was all over in half a minute, when they found themselves covered
with soapsuds, tipped over backwards off the platform into the water
in the sail, through which they were passed by the six '* bears " (all
first class petty officers), getting more or less ducked on their
passage out. Everything went off with the utmost good humour,
and it was most refreshing having the steam hose played over us
as the temperature, both of the air and water, was 78°. We all
had great fun in slushing and squirting each other with these,
turning a hose now on one officer or man, and now on another, as
we ran about, in more or less light attire, all over the deck and
climbed up in the rigging. There was ducking in all its forms and
under every modification of splashing and immersion : there was
the duck courteous, the duck oblique, the duck direct, the duck up-
right, the duck downright, the shower duck, and the duck and
drake. The gambols and sky-larking were concluded by noon and
the usual ship routine resumed.

Nov. oOth. — Stopped steaming, and cast off the Tourmaline at
8 A.M., having towed her for 93^ hours, and a distance of 452 miles.
Then made plain sail as the south-east trade was blowing steadily
with clear sunshine. At 11.30 A.M., William Foster, A.B., fell
from the fore-topsail yard on to the starboard side of the forecastle.
He died almost instantly and was buried at sunset after evening

VOL. I. s

253 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

quarters the same day. He was a smart young seaman, and came
from Blandford in Dorsetshire. A sailor's funeral at sea is almost
more impressive than a soldier's ashore. He who has gone from
their midst is always well known to every one in the ship
— where men are brought into such intimate contact every hour
of the day and night, that they soon learn, even more readily
than men in a regiment, each one the other's character and habits.
When, therefore, on board a man-of-war, amid every token of
respect, and with the white ensign half-mast high, the body of
their comrade, beneath the folds of the Union Jack, is carried by
his former messmates up from the after hatchway, down along the
quarter-deck to the gangway through the guard of marines with
their arms reversed, and followed by the captain and every officer
of the ship uncovered, there is not any of all the ship's com-
pany, then " conscious the more of One ne'er seen, yet ever near,"
as they stand by bareheaded, upon whose ears the words of the burial
service fall, who can remain untouched : " In the midst of life we
are in death : of whom may we seek for succour, but of Thee,
Lord. . . . Thou knowest the secrets of our hearts ; shut not Thy
merciful ears to our prayer, but spare us, Lord most holy, God
most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, Thou most worthy
Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, to fall from Thee."

The sea, to which the little cluster of his chums and messmates
gathered round the gangway then committed his body, was
that evening of the darkest purple blue, and over the whole height
of heaven were spread at that moment bright and deep coloured
clouds, some angry and lowering, others of a delicate emerald and
olive green, and others again saffron and golden.

" mother, praying God will save

Thy sailor, —while thy head is bow'd.
His heavy-shotted hammock-shroud
Drops in his vast and wand'ring grave."

Then, the service being over, the marines fired three farewell
volleys in the air, in token that he had in the exercise of his daily
duties, just as much as if he had died amid the strife of war, fallen in
the service of his Queen and of his country. The ship then stood
on her course, and sailed steadily on all through the starlit night.

Dec. 1st. — This morning, as accidents never come singly, a man
fell from aloft overboard from the flagship ; she let go a lifebuoy,
hove to, and lowered a boat, but he was not found. At noon all
the officers of the Bacchante met in the ward-room and drank the

1880. CAPE DE VERDE ISLANDS TO THE PLATE. 259

Princess of Wales's health most heartily, wishing Her Royal Highness
many happy returns of the day. The Cleopatra has been keeping
her course south-west, and all the other ships have been beating
to windward, tacking nearly every hour as exercise for the watch,
until the afternoon when the Admiral made signal to "Chase
the Cleopatra" and we came up with her at sunset and took up our
stations for the night.

The next two days the same routine was followed. The
Bacehante, as her bottom was getting very foul, was the worst of
the four others in sailing after the Cleopatra, .Iwhich was the
" dummy-ship " of the squadron. We passed many nautihis on the
surface of the sea with their pink little sails spread to the wind.
At night there are large patches of phosphorescence on the water,
which are said to be in some way connected with tliese. These
days at sea, during a long cruise, with their quiet and regularity,
are most useful for study. Besides the usual school we have
been reading together during the last few weeks S(|uiers's Peru, and
also Prescott's History of the Incas, and looking at some of the
large tables in Herbert Spencer's Sociology. We have the usual
gymnastic exercises, varied with games of quoits on one side of
the quarter-deck, during the men's supper hour, while on the other
side some practise cricket with a net rigged up in the starboard
gangway. This amusement after a bit rather drew upon the club
funds on account of the number of balls lost overboard. On other
evenings " prisoner's base " enlivened the hour, when the junior
officers, rushing and bounding all over the hatchways and deck,
somewhat interfered with the staid and leisurely " constitutionals "
of their elders. We are now enjoying a succession of starlight
nights ; Sirius is very bright ; Jupiter and his moons, all four
distinctly visible, and Magellan's clouds and other star-depths and
nebulae are often examined through the captain's telescope on the
poop. Our copies of Proctor's and Guillemin's books on the stars
are just now much in requisition.

Dec. Qth. — A man fell overboard from the Carysfort, but was
picked up ; in the afternoon there was a funeral on board the
Tourmaline. We are about the latitude of Cuzco to-day, and
a little south of Bahia, which, instead of calling in at, as was origin-
ally intended, we are passing, on account of yellow fever now
prevalent there. We met a fine American clipper coming up from
the south under a heap of fancy sail, and running before the south-
east trade. She asked us for the latest news from Europe, and

s 2

2G0 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANT!!. 1880.

we signalled to her " Garfield elected President." She passes
onward up towards the States ; the faintest of the trade winds are
urging her still forward, and we are reminded, as we look at her,
that the source of the Gulf Stream lies in the impulse given by
these same trade winds as they blow up from the south-east along
the coast of Africa, and continually urge along north-westwards
the superficial layer of that portion of the Atlantic, and create thus
what is known as the equatorial current, which sets constantly
from the coast of Africa towards the West Indies. It is, however,
a shallow current, and does not extend more than fifty fathoms in
depth ; on the surface it runs at the rate of eighteen miles a day.
The western portion of that current enters the Caribbean Sea and
the Gulf of Mexico ; flows round that at the rate of sixty miles a
day, becoming warmed as it goes, and then coming out by the
narrow straits between Florida and the Bahamas, meets the rest
of the equatorial current that runs up outside the Antilles ; the two
united then flow across the North Atlantic, at the rate of forty-eight
miles a day, away from America towards Great Britain. Thus if
we drifted with the current we should arrive at her skipper's home
first and then at ours. The depth of the Gulf Stream, where it is
pressed out by the cold current flowing south close to the North
American coast, is about one hundred fathoms ; when it is relieved
from that pressure it thins out and expands and part turns south
by the Azores back again to Africa. Regarding the circulation of
the waters of the ocean, we must remember that the upper water
of the equatorial regions being warmer and lighter than the colder
water round the polar regions, always tends to flow away towards
the pole ; and that the cold polar water sinks down and flows slowly
along the bottom towards the Equator, where, when gradually
warmed it rises to the surface and flows back again whence it came.
Both currents, however, are deflected from their due north and
south course by the eastward rotation of the earth. The warm
uppercurrent, travelling with equatorial speed, outstrips the slower
movement of the earth in higher latitudes, and washes the western
shores of Europe with the tepid waters that make our climate so
mild ; while the polar under-current, on the contrary, outstripped
in its turn by the earth's motion, turns westward towards the
American coast, and, pressed inwards by the antagonistic warm flow,
becomes the narrow band of excessively cold water which is found
between the edge of the Gulf Stream and the shore of the United
States. The cold water is thus beaten by the warm in the northeni

1880. OCEAN AND AIR CURRENTS. 2(51

hemisphere, because the Polar Sea is nearly inclosed by land. Its
deep water finds only a narrow exit in a channel between Iceland
and Greenland, and forms a narrow current in the West Atlantic.
In the southern hemisphere the reverse takes place. The Antarctic
Ocean is perfectly open : its cold waters flow freely along the bottom ;
and the consequence is, that there is a great mass of cold water
beneath the whole of the warm surface current, which sensibly re-
duces its temperature. At the Equator this cold water is brought to
the surface, by the fact that at this point it encounters the Arctic
flow in the opposite direction, and the two streams meeting one
another rise up in a heap towards the top, where, under the rays of
the tropical sun, they get converted into warm upper- currents, and
set off once more on their northward and southward travels. That
is the theory, and it has been singularly borne out in every point
by the soundings of the Challenger} The Porcupine expedition of
1869 and 1870 also showed that there is this constant movement
away from the Equator of the warm surface layers, surely tending
to ameliorate the climate of the polar areas ; while the cool water,
as heavier, has sunk to the bottom and moves in towards the Equator
in many streams at an ever-increasing depth as it gets nearer and
nearer the Equator, where at 2,306'.fathoms its temperature is 33^°.
The vertical circulation of the ocean is therefore produced hy
temperature, the horizontal circulation is produced by wind. And
while all horizontal oceanic circulations (or currents from east to
west and west to east) depend upon surface agencies and are liable
to be modified or completely altered by changes in the contour of
the land, and may therefore have been entirely diflerent in suc-
cessive geological periods, the vertical oceanic circulation (or currents
from north to south and south to north) would depend only on the
contrast of temperature between the polar and equatorial areas, and
must have continued through all geological time, provided only that
a communication existed between the great ocean basins of the two
areas.

And as it is with the water, so is it with the air. The warmer air of
the equatorial regions being lightest, rises, and its place is supplied

^ Dr. Carpenter has verified this law by experiment, so far as action on a large scale
is capable of being verified on a very small one. He takes a glass trough, fills it with
water and places a freezing mixture on the surface at one end to represent the pole,
and a hot plate at the other to stand for the equator. The circulation is immediately
set up in proper form, and a diagram in which cold water is coloured blue, and warm
water red, shows how steadily the blue stream 'sinks down, travels along the bottom,
and rises again to the surface, to be there transmuted into red, and so reaches the
])oint from which it started.

262 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880-

by the in-rush of the heavier and colder air from the polar regions ;
these currents form the " trades ; " which are deflected just in the
same way by the rotation of the earth as the ocean currents are, so
as to be north-east in the northern hemisphere and south-east in the
southern. They are also interfered with by the action of the land,
or else would be uniform over each hemisphere. If the solid crust
of the earth be conceived as smoothed down to one uniform level,
its entire surface would then be covered with water to the depth of
about a mile ; and then the action of winds and waters would not
be disturbed in the even tenor of their flow and action (as they
are now) by the land, and the local variations in temperature
consequent thereon. Thus the air above and the sea below move
ever in rhythmic currents round the globe, like the throbs and
pulsation^ of blood sent out and drawn in by the never-resting
heart of the universe. Of this we are constantly reminded, when
sailing in the trades, as we look upward and seethe clouds scudding
along on high, borne by the warm counter-trade in a diametrically
opposite direction to that of the cool trade that is rushing in
towards the Equator and bearing us along. Then the action of
these great nature-powers seems to us like that of the great angels
and wheels in the vision of Ezekiel (i. 20-24), " Quocumque ibat
spiritus, illuc eunte spiritu, et rotae pariter elevabantur, sequentes
eum. Spiritus enim vitae erat in rotis. Et audiebam sonum alarum,
quasi sonum aquarum multarum, quasi sonum sublimis Dei : cum
ambularent quasi sonus erat multitudinis, ut sonus castrorum."

Dec. 7th. — The Admiral got up steam for target practice, for which
the other four ships spread, but, as the Bacchante had already " ex-
pended her quarter's ammunition," we continued under sail. In the
evening they were all hull down, and the Inconstant flashed to the
Bacchante by means of her electric light, the long and short flashes
of which we read off as they were reflected on the clouds above,
though the actual light itself was below the horizon. We were also
experimenting with the captain s private electric light, which he
worked by steam from the steam pinnace. The following morning
the Inconstant and the other three ships spread again for target
practice, and in the afternoon were at steam tactics. We hove to
for them to come up with us, which they did at 5 P.M. While we
were waiting for them we hooked a shark over the stern with a bit
of salt pork. Before he was hauled out of the water the commander
put several express bullets into his head, but in spite of these, and
even after he had been ripped open under the forecastle, he struggled

1880. CAPE iDE VERDE ISLANDS TO' THE PLATE. 263

on, such was liis wonderful vitality; severaL sucker-fish were taken
off him. We passed out of the tropics on Saturday, December
11th, and, thenceforth, had variable winds from all points of the
compass which sometimes fell very light. This was especially the
case on Sunday (12th), when the squadron was becalmed for
thirty-six hours, and the ships lay with their heads all different
ways. As the thermometer was nearly 80° we had some of the
awnings spread, but service was still held down below on the
mess-deck, with ports barred in. The captain's bunting bag
was overboard, in which he managed to secure some pretty
hauls of water creatures; a number of small, long, almost in-
visible, jelly-fish, with two dots for their eyes and a line for the
spine (these are said by some to be the cause of the phosphor-
escence on the water at night) ; an infant Portuguese man-of-war ;
a few blue, flea-like creatures, and a lovely shot-green and rose
insect which, under the microscope, had many admirers. On
Tuesday we had a splendid breeze from the north and north-west,
which carried us along over seven or eight knots for twenty-four
hours, so at noon we had run 150 miles. The wind worked round
by the west to the south-east, a confused sea coming up with it
from that quarter ; on the following day it was very dark on the
south-west horizon, and expecting squalls from that quarter
the Admiral made signal to shorten sail, and down came the rain.
Soon after the change of wind the sky was clear, and the
thermometer fell as much as seven degrees in half an hour, and
the air was dry. On Thursday morning we began to feel quite
cool, some said even cold, with the thermometer at 70°, and
on Friday the Admiral put us into blues again, and as the
barometer was falling, at l.-SO P.M. two reefs were taken in in the
topsails, the wind blowing from the north with a force from seven
to eight, with frequent rain squalls. A dead shark, twenty-one
feet long, covered with seabirds, floated by ; our patent log last
night was swallowed by one, for the rope was frayed where he had
bitten it through. The paymaster wondered whether he had got
" log "-jaw in consequence. Numbers of sea-birds flying about
again. One very pretty little yellow land bird, like a dark canary,
came off and flew astern for some time. We are close hauled
to what seems a ''turbanado" or sort of local "pampero." At
10.30 P.M. the signal was made to " Wear and come to the wind on
the other tack." It was a beautiful moonlight night for this evolu-
tion ; the Bacchante wore first as leader of a column, the Inconstant,

264 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

being of very great length, and having her screw down, wore slowly.
In the middle of this evolution one of the ships asked us " What is
the matter ?" not having taken the signal in, but she quickly
followed motions. Then as the wind had abated and there was
no "pampero" we made plain sail ; the wind then went round to
the south-east; and the weather was dry and fine with the
barometer rising.

Dec. 18th. — During the forenoon several turtle floated by the
ship. Passed through myriads of young Portuguese men-of-war,
several of whom were taken in the bunting net. In many places
the sea was discoloured with yellow, muddy streaks, three or four
feet long and broad, but of irregular shape ; the sun was shining
brightly at the time, and the rest of the sea was deep blue ; we
passed within a few yards of them, and they are apparently either
masses of iish spawn or seaweed nucleus. The thermometer now
never rises above 70°, and is sometimes two or three degrees lower,
so that it is delightfully cool. The next day we altered course to
west-south-west, and we feel as if we are getting near the mouth
of the Plate river. On Monday morning we get into bottle-green
water, and take soundings with Sir William Thomson's machine
several times at forty -three fathoms, fine black sand ; so vast is the
amount of mud swept down by this river right across South
America from the very Andes themselves. There is a nice gentle
breeze from the north-east, and we are going quietly in at four knots,
keeping station, and in the evening are hailed by a pilot boat. It
is a fine night, and we had a look at Jupiter and Saturn through
the large telescope ; both planets are now very near each other.
The " Southern Cross " is standing topsy-turvy ; and the " False
Cross " looks almost the finer of the two groups.

Dec. 2\st. — At 5 a.m. sighted the long low line of the coast of
Uruguay just before sunrise. At 8 A.M. we were 107 miles from
Monte Video and forty from Maldonado ; it is nearly calm, and
all the forenoon we scarcely make one knot an hour ; we observe
two or three steamers coming out of the river. The wind freshened
from the east in the afternoon, and took us along towards the
anchorage at six and seven knots. At 5 P.M. we passed the bare-
looking, uninviting mass of rock situated just otf Maldonado Point,
called Lobos or Lupus, Island, from the number of sea-wolves or
seals which here abound, several of whom were sunning them-
selves on the reef as we passed. In these regions it is about the
last week in November or the first in December that the sea-lions

1880.

CAPE DE VERDE ISLANDS TO THE PLATE.

265

{Otaria jubata) haul up on the rocks to bring forth their young.
The breeding places or "rookeries" which they select are always
small, low-lying rocky islets like these, which are exposed to the
swell of the ocean and over which in heavy weather the sea makes
a more or less clean sweep. Mail steamer in our rear coming in
signalled " Have mails for fleet." At 10.30 p.m. sighted the Flores
Light ; after the moon was up the Admiral made signal for change
of formation to single column in line ahead, and so we proceeded till
1 A.M., when we formed columns of divisions in line ahead, second
division to starboard, and so on up to our anchorage at Monte Video,
where we arrived and moored at 4.30 A.M. in four and a half
fathoms. After seeing the sun rise turned in for a short snooze.

AT MONTE VIDEO.

Date.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Dec.

S.E. byS. 1-2, N.E. 1, S.W. 5-6

S. toS.R.W. 5-7-2

S.W. 1-2, N.W. 5-6, W.S.W. 5

26 S.

S.W. 2-3, N.E. 3-4, N.W. 4-5

N.W. 3-4, NE. 5-6, W. by N. 2-3

S. 7, ».E. 4-6, N.N.W. 5 3

W. 1-2, N. 3-5, W. byN. 3-4

N.W. 2-3, S.E. 4-6-3

S.E. 3-4, N. 4-5, S.E. r2

Jan.

E.N.E. 3

2S.

N. 5-7, N.E. 3-1

S.W. 1, S.E. 3-6

S.E. 6 -5 -3

S. and S.E. 4-5

S.E. 3-4, S. 4-7-4

S. 2-3, N.E. toE. 2-3

N.E. 3-4, S.W. 1-2, E. 2

Dec. 22nd. — We are lying three miles off the town, the white
houses clustering round the large cathedral, the dome of which
we can plainly see. There is only one foot of water under our
keel, the Inconstant has but half a foot. The width across the
Plate River from Monte Video to the opposite shore of the Argentine
Republic is sixty-three miles; the extreme width of the mouth
lower down from Maldonado to Cabo San Antonio is 150 miles

266 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

from shore to shore. Higher up, opposite Buenos Aires, it is thirty-
four miles across, and in the narrowest part, higher up still, its
width is twenty-three miles. From Monte Video to that point is
125 miles. This huge estuary at one time extended to Diamante,
at the bend of the Parana. Nature is steadily filling it up ; its
average depth at low water is only eighteen feet, and there are
many and extensive sandbanks in it, over which there are never
more than two or three feet. The pampero (from the west) and
the sea winds (from the east) cause constant changes in its depth.
The volume of water discharged by the Plate is more than the
aggregate discharge of all the rivers of Europe together ; the basin
from whence it draws its streams is 1,500 miles long, and much of it
lies within the tropics, where there is always an abundant rain-fall.
Found here H.M.S. Garnet (Captain Loftus Jones, senior officer
of south-east coast), and H.M.'s gunboats Forward (Lieut.-Com-
manding, E. F. Brickdale), and Swallow (Commander J. B.Warren) ;
and the United States frigate Shenandoah. As it looks very black in
the west, with lightning and squalls, we all send down the upper
yards ; there is every appearance that we shall have a pampero, as a
gale from the south-west is here called, on account of its coming off
the pampas. It gains strength as it travels across the vast plains,
unbroken by any inequalities of the ground, and bursts with great
force seaward. The end of the day was occupied with reading
English mails and newspapers, and fishing off the glacis. The
Hon. E. T. Monson, C.B., British minister to Uruguay, came out
in the Forward, and called on the Admiral.

Dec. 2Srd. — H.M.'s gunboat Flic came down from Buenos Aires
(120 miles up the river), with Sir Horace Rumbolt, Bart., on board,
the British minister to the Argentine Confederation. After lying
for some little time off the Bacchante she proceeded to take His
Excellency up the harbour and ashore to Monte Video; but as
several cutters of the squadron had got adrift and were unable,
under oars, to make any way against the heavy squalls and the
sea that was running, she went round to pick them up and tow
them back to their ships, which delayed her over an hour.
Landed at Monte Video and walked up to Mr. Monson's, and then
out for a walk about the town, over the cathedral and Plaza and
the *' 18th of July" Boulevard. The town stands on the ridge
of a hill, which is the easternmost horn of a small bay about two
miles long, and one and a-half broad. Across on the western side of
this bay is the peak, 500 feet high, which gives the place its name,

1880. • MONTE VIDEO. 267

*' Sightly Hill." This small bay on the north shore of the River
Plate is supposed to have once formed the crater of a volcano,
and is shaped like a horse-shoe. All the streets run away at right
angles from the central street, which is on the ridge of the eastern
promontory, down the slopes on either side to the water's edge,
so that any movement in the air is felt at once in the centre of the
town ; and the ships are visible at the end of most of these streets,
which cross at pretty regular intervals of ninety-five yards. We went
over the theatre, a fine commodious building, and saw the large
church of St. Francis, now building in red brick. Tramways
run in all directions, up and down hill and round corners ;
every one seems to ride in them, and as there are no cushions or
linings but only the bare wooden seats (which are reversible), they
are cool and pleasant conveyances. Drove out in one to the
Prado, fifty minutes distance from the town, a large building, once
a mansion, then a hotel, and now deserted and broken down, but
standing in the midst of the remains of a large and once well laid-
out garden, with much statuary down the avenues. Saw here the
preparations which are being made for the garden party. In the
neighbourhood are several pretty quintas with their gardens, and
a great number of eucalyptus trees. The air was deliciously dry
and cool. The population of Monte Video, one-third of whom are
immigrants, is over 100,000 — a quarter of all the people in the
Republic of Uruguay. The soldiers of the Uruguayan Republic
are dressed in white Zouave uniforms, and look fine, sturdy, and
well cared-for men in their barracks ; blacks, Indians, and Spaniards
serve all in the same regiment. There are five regiments of
cavalry, two of artillery, and three battalions of riflemen ; in all
under 3,500 men. Santos, the War Minister, seems to be most
powerful here.^ There are four other ministers. The President
of the Republic (elected for four years — Doctor Vidal) is a medical
man still in practice. The constitution 'of the Republic was pro-
claimed 18th of July, 1831. There are two Houses, the Senate and
Chamber of Representatives ; when they are not sitting a permanent
Committee of two Senators and five Representatives, with the
President, have legislative and administrative power. The Represen-
tatives (of whom there are forty-six) are chosen for three years, in
the proportion of 1 to every 3,000 males who can read and write.
There is one Senator for each of the eighteen departments into

^ Elected President March 1, 1882, on the resignation of the late President.

268 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

which Uruguay is divided ; they are chosen for six years, and one-
third of the Senate must retire every two years.

Dec. 24<th. — The Forward came out at 3 P.M. to take any officers
on shore that wished to go. So we went on shore in her with the
doctor and two gun-room messmates and walked about the town,
which is quite like a clean European capital. There is a great
quantity of white marble, brought out in Italian ships as ballast,
and numbers of the houses are faced with a dado of marble, and
nearly all the staircases, even of the smaller houses, are con-
structed of white marble ; most are flat-roofed, and have a little
tower for outlook and taking the air. The windows are protected
with wrought-iron work, sometimes gilded and ornamented. The
chief shops were (as you might have expected) those of the shoe-
makers and saddlers, ironmongers and butchers ; and one or two
first-rate chemists. Articles of foreign origin are very dear, as
the import duties are high ; but the absolute necessities of life
are abundant and cheap, and there is little real poverty in the
country. Each inhabitant (according to the Customs returns), con-
sumes £17 18s. worth of British goods a year — these are chiefly
manufactured cotton and woollen goods. The imports from Great
Britain amount to a third of the whole import trade ; and the
exports to Great Britain amount to a fourth of the exports of
Uruguay ; they are mainly the raw products of the slaughter-house
— hides, tallow, wool, bones and horns ; and besides these, live stock
and preserved meats ; the total value of all exports is about five
millions sterling per annum. The imports are less, and amongst
them are butter and cheese, which are curious items for a pastoral
country to import at an additional cost to the consumer of at least
forty per cent., including freight charges and duties. Of the 1,044
vessels which entered the port of Monte Video in 1879, 285 were
English, 157 Spanish, 145 Italian, and 112 German. The revenues
are derived principally from Customs dues, only a very small sum
from direct taxation and licenses. The total receipts last year were
two and a-half millions sterling, and the total expenditure slightly
under that sum ; half the last is payment of interest on State debt,
which is now nearly thirteen millions sterling. The import duties
are very high — on many articles of food and general consumption
as much as thirty- seven per cent. ; they are forty-five per cent, on
spirits, tobacco., and arms, and twenty-five per cent on cotton goods.
There is no industry in the country that needs protection, but im-
port dues are supposed to be the easiest method of raising taxation

1880. ADMIRAL'S INSPECTION OF THE SHIP. 269

in a thinly peopled country. We dined together at the Hotel
Oriental, where also we slept, after going to a little dance which
Mr. Monson, the British minister, gave. So fell our Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day. — A sunny morning, but squally ; we went off to the
Bacchante in time for church, which to-day, quite exceptionally, we
had on the upper deck. The band played the hymn tunes (Nos. 50,
60, 62) out of Ancient and Modern, and very well they sounded
under the awning, with the men's voices in the open air ; the
harmonium played the usual chants. The men's mess places on
the lower deck were decorated with green in Christmas style, and
furnished with little extras, according to the varying tastes of their
members. To each mess we had sent round a packet of Christmas
cards, one for each member with his name upon it. All the boys in the
ship in the same way had small Christmas boxes from England,
knives, housewives, tartan for cap lining, and other sailors' treasures,
and especially those who had sung in the choir, and done their
best in school and drill during the half-year. All the officers
dined together under the poop, and after dinner sang songs.

Dec. Tlth. — At 9.30 a.m. Eear- Admiral the Earl of Clanwilliam,
C.B., came on board to inspect the Bacchante. It was a very hot day,
the sun was blazing, and not a breath of wind was stirring. We
manned yards, and afterwards mustered by open list (when every
officer and man in the ship, as his name was called, passed before the
Admiral) ; his lordship then went all over the ship and inspected
some of the bedding and the hammocks. After the dinner-hour
he came again with his torpedo and gunnery lieutenants. We
hoisted out, manned and armed the boats, exercised at fire and
then at general quarters, and at 5 P.M. the Admiral left the ship.
At midnight, after a perfectly calm day, a strong puff of wind,
laden with the scent of the pampas and their dry grass came off
the land, which was the beginning of a small pampero, which blew
freshly all the morning watch up to noon.

Dec, 2Sth. — At 5.30 p.m. we went on board iliQElh (Commander
Clanchy), and picked up the Admiral, the flag-captain and lieu-
tenant, and many other officers ; we landed at the Custom House
and walked up to the Oriental Hotel, where carriages were waiting,
into which we all got and drove off to El Prado, where a large
garden party was given by the British residents to the Admiral
and officers of the squadron. We were invited for 5 p.m. and thus
had an hour or so of daylight to wander about the grounds, which
were afterwards very prettily illuminated with various coloured

270 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

laDterns hanging from the trees, especially the avenue leading up
the hill from the gateway to the large platform round the fountain,
which was festooned with lanterns on either side, and where a cold
refection was laid out on long tables. At this Mr. McCall, the chair-
man of the committee, presided, with the Admiral on his right
hand and Mr. Monson on his left. There was dancing after-
wards, both in the open air and in the rooms of the building. The
American officers from the Shenandoah, and the Spaniards and
also the Brazilians from their gunboats, were invited. We left
about 10.30 P.M., and slept at the Oriental Hotel, which was very
full, so that the sitting-rooms were utilised for sleeping by the
midshipmen.

Dec. 29th. — Up to the central railway station by 7 A.M., where
Mr. Monson and Mr. Chamberlain, the manager of the line, met
the Admiral and his party. We went in a special train, consisting
of two large and very lengthy saloon carriages, to Durazno, 130
miles up country, the furthest point inland towards the Brazilian
frontier to which, at present, the railway has been extended. We
passed Canelones and Santa Lucia (33 miles out, where are the
waterworks planned and owned by an English company for supplying
Monte Video with pure water), and stopped at 10 A.M. at Florida
for an hour, where a first-rate breakfast had been prepared ; from
here the two members of the Uruguayan ministry, who had accom-
panied the Admiral thus far, returned to town. The railway track,
to avoid the difficulties of levelling, pursues a most meandering
course round the various rising undulations, none of which are much
over thirty feet high. The country through which we pass consists
chiefly of broad undulating pampas, and resembles what much of
England would be, if bared of villages, hedgerows, churches and
woods. It is covered with grass of various kinds, green and brown,
mostly turf, over which, at great distances apart, herds of cattle,
horses and sheep, wander and graze. The absence of timber and
native forest on the pampas is difficult to explain. By the side of
the line, here and there, are growing large patches of giant thistles
and cactus ; what few trees there are to break the monotony of the
prospect are chiefly newly-planted eucalyptus and acacias in the
neighbourhood of occasional estancias. Some of these eucalyptus
trees are from over 80 to 100 feet in height, and they were imported
from Australia and planted only twelve years ago. Leaving
Monte Video there are many pretty quintas in the suburbs, which
extend for three or four miles each side of the line ; the fields are

1880.' MONTE VIDEO. DURAZNO. 271

here divided by hedgerows of aloes, which remind us of the pinguin
hedges in Jamaica, but afterwards the country gets wilder and more
and more open, until at last, at about noon, we run into Durazno
over the long viaduct which spans the river Yi, a tributary of the
Rio Negro ; and which is bordered on the banks with copses of
bushes like bog myrtle.

[We at first wondered why this substantial and expensive
viaduct had been erected, as the town itself of Durazno seemed
but a small one ; but we learnt that the river, though at this
season of the year it is low and apparently small, except where
it broadens into pools, yet, in the winter time, or after rain,
when in full flood is of a considerable breadth, and that it
thus offers the chief obstacle to the traffic of hides and wools
that come down from the country inland to Monte Video. Till
the bridge was made the railway could not compete with the
carts of the country for the conveyance of these, as when the
carts were once over the river they ran down to the coast at the
lower rate of the two. By the bridge, however, the railway has
now tapped all the trade beyond the river, and very few carts now
come down beyond Durazno. This railway was to have gone on
to the frontier of Brazil, 150 miles further, but there is a difficulty
in obtaining the English capital necessary for constructing it ; the
present line was begun twelve years ago, and now pays three per
cent., and would pay a great deal more if the government w^ere a
stable one. Although the railways have rendered local emetttes
and revolutions, of the sort which formerly distracted the country,
impossible, as the central government in power is now always
able, by their means, to convey troops to any spot where a dis-
turbance may arise and put it down at once, yet still there is
more liability to sudden changes of government, through factious
jealousies in the capital, than perhaps, at present, we are used
to in Europe. There is no doubt that the railways in these
South American States will bring about gradually, but surely, as
they have already done in various countries where they have been
constructed, a vast change in their commercial, social, and political
development. The sources of wealth which now lie hidden
beneath the soil of these states all down along the mountain
ranges, consisting of metals, minerals, and precious stones, are
practically unlimited. Large also as are the herds and flocks
which wander aud graze upon the pampas, they are nothing in
comparison to those which these limitless downs, with their rich

272 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

black soil seven feet deep, are capable of rearing. The only diffi-
culty is population. Uruguay is not yet peopled ; one-fourth of
the soil is yet without ownership, and is not even surveyed. The
area of the whole country (76,000 square miles), is considerably
larger than that of England and Wales. Its coast-line on the Atlantic
is 200 miles, that on the south is 155, and its western shore line
along the river Uruguay (which separates it from Paraguay,
which in its turn is again about the size of England and Wales),
is 155 miles. Its total population is only 450,000 (less than
that of Birmingham or Baltimore) ; but it is absolutely free from
any vestige of that indigenous or Indian population which in
many South American countries gives such trouble. For a
century and a quarter (from 1624, when the first attempts were
made to colonise it) the country belonged nominally and alter-
nately to the Spaniards and Portuguese ; early in the nineteenth
century the question of dominion was settled finally in favour of
the Spaniards. Even in those early days it was discovered that
the most advantageous objects of industry were hides and tallow.
The whole of the Plate district was then included in the Vice-
royalty of Peru ; subsequently a separate viceroy was established
in Buenos Aires. After turning out the British in 1807, the states
of the Plate rebelled against Spain, and then began the series of
troubles which they would have escaped had they remained
British ; they had no strength to stand alone, and were torn by
intestine factions. At one time Uruguay stood independent ; at
another it was subdued by the Argentines ; then it was incorporated
with Portugal ; afterwards with Brazil. Each of these in turn
fought over its possession, and meanwhile its inhabitants were the
prey of each. In 1828 they appealed to Great Britain to mediate,
and Uruguay was declared a state, sovereign and independent.
Emigration is now steadily supplying population, chiefly from
Switzerland and Italy. Ever since Garibaldi, in his youth, won
his first laurels at Monte Video, the Italians have emigrated in
large numbers to this and other States bordering on the Plate.
In process of time there is no doubt that the descendants of these
settlers will swamp, in point of numbers, those of the native
Spaniards. In the department of Monte Video alone there are
twice as many foreigners who possess freehold property as native-
born Uruguayans. Every man on landing here becomes ipso facto a
citizen of the Republic, and already some of the higher offices in the
government are held by such new-comers. Be it from what cause

1880. EAILWAYS MAKE FEDERATION EASIER. 273

it may, there is no doubt that emigrants to South America, both
in former days and in the present, learn sooner to identify them-
selves with their adopted country than is the case in any other
quarter of the globe ; it was so in the olden days of the Spanish
domination, when no one hated the rule of Spain more than the
descendants, in the second or third generation, of those who had
originally colonised the country. Heterogeneous as may be the
component parts, they are gradually but infallibly coalescing to
build up what in the future will be the United States of South
America. Jealousies, rivalries, and faction fights have been, and
will, of course, be here productive, not only in each State in itself,
but also between State and State, of the greatest mischief But as
each man and as each state learns more and more to perceive that
their interest lies, both individually and collectively, in the develop-
ment of the material resources with which nature has so richly
endowed the land to which they are, one and all, more or less
attached ; and as the extension of the railway system knits
.together these various States and renders communication, now
practically impossible between the most distant, easy and natural,
the same result will ensue which has already followed in Canada, and
which is following in Australia, where Union and Confederation give
not only strength to the commercial developments of those countries,
but also width and depth to their political sentiments of patriotism
and empire. It will, of course, inevitably require a certain amount
of time before such consummation can be brought to pass ; and
probably the States of South America will first combine, either
peaceably or after war, into two Confederations : consisting, the
one, of those to the East, and the other, of those to the West of the
Andes. But as far as can be foreseen, even this division cannot be
of long continuance. Already the railway, which will bring Buenos
Aires within forty-eight hours of Valparaiso, has been constructed
over two-thirds of the distance ; and the produce of the Eastern
States is just that which the Western require, and in their turn the
Western have long felt that their own full development was only to
be brought about by freer intercourse with those on the Eastern
slopes of the Andes. This has been shown, although perhaps in
some cases more or less blindly, by the execution in Peru of some
of the most stupendous engineering operations which even this
generation has seen. At present the money lavished on the Oroya,
and Cuzco lines which wind and climb through tunnels and over
viaducts amid the almost inaccessible passes of the Andes, may

VOL. I. T

274 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

appear to have been wasted, or spent chiefly in jobbery or for
party purposes ; but in the end it will not be so. The energy and
ability which have been exhibited by Chili in the present war with
Peru reflect on one at least of these South American republics
the very greatest credit, and show that there at least politics and
government are something more than a trade. And as in that
particular contest the more honest, and the better administered
of the two Western States has completely vanquished the governing
power of the other, so, in like manner, though let us hope with
less effusion of blood, the more vigorous of the Eastern States will,
in their turn, take the lead and bear the chief hand in making into
one strong Federal state the four (Argentines, Paraguay, Uruguay,
and Brazil) which are now broken up into rival and mutually
jealous republics. Brazil, though nominally a monarchy, is, for all
practicable purposes, a republic ; and probably to her statesmen
and to those of the Argentine Confederation will belong, in the
near future, the lead of the Federated Eastern states. The
population of the Argentine republic even now exceeds that of the
five provinces of Australia ; the resources and the climate, for the
most part, both much resemble those of our great island continent
in the southern seas. At the beginning of this century there
were many English merchants established at Monte Video. In
June, 1806, both it and Buenos Aires were taken possession of by
the English ; and in the following year General Whitelocke was sent
out with a supplementary force. He most ignominiously capitu-
lated in September, 1807.^ That was in the days before the tide

^ The history of this now almost forgotten attempt to bring South America be-
neath the British flag, which if it had been successful would undoubtedly have
established here one of the most flourishing of English colonies, is as follows. In
1761, when the forces of Spain and France were banded together under the Bourbon
family in contest with England for World empire, and for the destruction of British
commerce, the elder Pitt had purposed to liberate the Spanish possessions in the
Kew World. As the dream of French empire in India had been destroyed at Plassey
in 1757, and the dream of another French empire in North America had been wrecked
at Montreal in 1760, so that of the Spaniard was similarly to be destroyed in South
America, In 1797 when millions of hides were rotting in the warehouses of Monte
Video and Buenos Aires, because the British cruisers had in the war with Spain and
France to maintain the blockade of the Plate, it was concluded that the people of
these states, oppressed beneath the yoke of Spain, would soon see that their interests
would be best served by making cause with England. But the peace of Amiens in
1802 put an end for the time to the project of their deliverance. It was, however,
no less a favourite scheme of the younger Pitt than of his father, and it was revived
and put in execution soon after the opening of the European war in 1803. The
Plate fleet was captured and the tribute to Spain (over two millions sterling) was
brought into London with much pomp and popular rejoicing. The younger Pitt
died in Jnnuary 1806, but in June of that year (the year after the battle of Trafalgar)
a small British squadron appeared in the Plate, the same as had sailed in the previous
autumn to the Cape of Good Hope, and in the spring of 1806 secured the Dutch

1880. A SOUTH-AMERICAN AUSTRALIA. 275

of emigration had begun to flow from the British shores to
Australia ; and if, instead of flowing eastward, it had gone west-
ward to these so similar lands, the British sheep farmers and ore
miners would have had as much to do in the rearing of the United
States of South America as they have had in the furnishing
substance for the vigorous and healthy growth of the United
States of North America ; and would have been a strong nucleus
to assimilate here the descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese
with the same ease as they have those of the French in

colonies, and taken the whole Dutch army there as prisoners of war, from the other
ally of France, whuse kingdom in Europe Napoleon had transferred to his own
brother Louis : and thus the mastery of Holland by the French had led to the
transfer of her colonies to the British Crown as a measure of self-defence. Spain
was already Napoleon's subservient ally ; he ruthlessly meditated making her
and Portugal his own, hoping that with their mighty dominions in South
and Central America he might renew with vastly increased forces the struggle
with liritain for her empire of the seas. These were the designs which the
English were driven if possible to forestall, and the best means of so doing
appeared to be the carrying out of the project of Liberation that had been en-
tertained by the two Pitts. When Sir Home Popham with his squadron from the
Cape appeared olf Buenos Aires, the Spanish Viceroy at once fled. In the despatch
announcing to the authorities at home the success of his achievement Sir Home in-
vited English merchants to come to the magnificent new centre of trade thus opened.
A few British troops, in all 1,635 (consisting of the 71st Highlanders, some blue-
jackets, and artillery) under General Beresford quietly occupied Buenos Aires on the
27th June ; so faint w\as the show of resistance offered by this city of 60,000 in-
liabitants, that only one Englishman was killed. It was not so much a compiest as
a fraternization with the colonists that Beresford hoped for, as he at once expressed
in his Manifesto (July 2nd) to the people. All the judges, and clerics, all the military
and civil officers in the place, took the oath of allegiunce to the King of England ;
and the newcomers were welcomed and on friendly terms from the beginning with the
chief citizens. So secure did Beresford fancy himself to be that he sent away a con-
siderable portion of the little force he had, back to England (July 10th) in convoy
of the Spanish treasure captured, and with the news of his brilliant success, where
they arrived September, 1806. Some of the disaffected of the citizens, however,
observing the scanty numbers of the English, at the instigation and under the
leadership of a Frenchman named Liniers, and with the aid of some French priva-
teersmen whom he brought across the river under cover of a fog (August 4th),
rallied the remains of the Spanish garrison and attacked the English in the streets
of Buenos Aires. From the central square they were flriven by superior numbers to
retire to the fort hard by, and there on the 12th August, Beresford consented to
withdraw from the city which he had held forty-five days and go on board the
English ships in the Koads. Liniers promised on his part to maintain order if the
English came out of the fort. No sooner had the British piled their arms than the
promise made was broken by Liniers. On getting them into his hands he insisted on
sending the English as captives into the interior (September 20th). Most of them,
liowever, by the help of friendly colonists afterwards escaped, and Beresford lived
till 1854, He served with Sir John Moore at Corunna in 1808, and in the peninsular
campaign under Wellington. Scarcely, however, had this untoward event happened
at Buenos Aires than reinforcements from the Cape of Good Hope (3,500 strong)
arrived at Monte Video ; and in February 1807, another squadron from England
under Admiral Stirling with General Auchmuty, and in May another under Admiral
Murray and General Crawford with 5,000 more troops. A month later came Genei-al
Whitelocke, as Governor-General of South America on a salaiy of 12,000/. a year. The
squadron was under orders to sail round the Horn, and deliver Valparaiso in Chili
from the Spaniards, and to establish posts across the country connecting that city
with Buenos Aires, and thus at last to execute the loiig-cherishcd plan of Lord

T 2

276 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

Louisiana and the Spanish of Florida or the Dutch of New-
York.]

At Durazno station we found a number of saddle-ponies and
saddle-horses (worth 3/. each on an average) waiting for us, with
Mr. Dunster, who began life as a midshipman in the service (for
fifteen months), but wlio now lives on the pampas, and is the only
man that the gauchos confess is able to tame and ride the wildest
horses just as well as they can. We all mounted, and first galloped
over the turf of the pampas to Rodeo (i.e. " a well-worn spot "),

Anson. Buenos Aires, however, must first be re -occupied, and for that purpose seven
English regiments were landed and marched up to Buenos Aires (July 1st) ; but even
after the warning which Beresford had received, serious warlike operations do not
seem to have been anticipated by the new Governor-General. His officers after slight
resistance offered, took the city (July 2) ; but Whitelocke through treachery or in-
competence would not advance. He even removed the flints from the muskets of
the Connaught Rangers and sent them forward into the central square, and seems to
have done all he could to get the rest of his troops entangled in the streets through
which he ordered them to march without firing a shot even if attacked. So strange
and imbecile an attempt to retrieve the disastrous efl"ect of the retreat of a few months
before could not but invite the Spaniards with superior forces to close in on the un-
resisting English from the neighbouring streets on all sides ; without food or
drink and without ammunition they could not but surrender. Whitelocke, who had
remained three miles in the rear, made haste to propose to capitulate and to purchase
his own safety and that of the survirors of the men whom he had ordered into this
ridiculous but tragic plight, by agreeing on the 6th of July with the still active
French Colonel Liniers to evacuate the province within two months. Liniers seeing
with what sort of man he ho,d to bargain, added to this agreement at the last moment
" and Monte Video also." Whitelocke consented without another word, and Monto
Video which the English had held for seven months was also "given up." Furtlier
reinforcements of 2,000 men had arrived at Monte Video from England on July 5th,
and Auchmuty strongly urged Whitelocke to make another effort before consenting
to such ignominy, but in vain. Out of the 10,000 men with whom he set out from
Monte Video to Buenos Aires, 317 were killed and twice as many wounded in this
fiasco. Liniers now made himself Governor-General of the Plate ; three years
later (26th August 1810), he was shot by order of the National Committee. In the
judgment of the Court Martial which tried Whitelocke for this disgraceful and silly
conduct of the expedition he was held "totally unfit to serve His Majesty in any
military capacity whatever," and the popular voice changed his name to General
Whitefeathcr. He would undoubtedly have been shot, had he not had a very near
relative in one of the royal dukes. The news of the ease with which Beresford had
at first overthrown the Spanishpower apirarently led the Ministry at home to suppose
that it did not matter much who they sent as Governor- General, since he would have
capab'e and gallant officers, such as Ci'awford and Auchmuty, beside him. Whitelocke,
although he had once before disgraced himself by cowardice in the West Indies was
tlierefore selected for what seemed a lucrative and easy post. The only possible
excuse that can be made for his conduct is that he was weakwitted, and certainly no
worse than the Spanish Viceroy, Sobremonte, whose place he was sent to occupy.
There was probably no man of that generation whose name was more loathed and
execrated as a traitor ; for some yertrs afterwards there was a common toast, making
a loyal distinction between the father and son : "Success to grey hairs, but a curse
on white locks." So ended the attempt to make South America a British colony.
A splendid opportunity was thrown away, a gallant army sacrificed, and a slur brought
upon the English name. The colonists whom the English had imagined would hail
them as deliverers and come to their support against the Spanish garrison were
supine : the distances over which they were scattered were immense, and means of
communication were difficult. Moreover, although the country was so sparsely
inhabited, there was a sliort-sighted party among them who dreaded the advent of

1880. USE OF THE LASSO AND BOLAS. 277

where we saw lassoing and bolasing practised. The bola (or sling)
consists of three balls, each about two inches in diameter, but
sometimes smaller ; two are heavy and the third is light. Each ball
is attached to the end of a piece of plaited raw hide about two
yards long ; the ends of all these thongs are made fast together in
a knot. When about to be used, the lighter ball is held fast in
the hand and swung round the head in a circular manner, causing
the two heavy balls to revolve at the end of their thongs ; the
whole is then let fly at the legs oi the animal that is to be

other immigrants into their territory, and the proclamation of free trade instead of
the Spanish monopoly ; and with an exclusive and selfish narrowness feared that, if
the English were once permanently established at ]3uenos Aires, emigrants from
Europe would wish to settle on these boundless pampas ; in the hope therefore, of
shutting out all fresh comers, though they disliked the Spanish yoke they would not
aid the English. That the calculation, however, of the British Ministry at home was
not altogether wrong as to the good will of many of the Argentine colonists towards
England was shown by subsequent events. When three years later (in 1810) it became
known on the Plate that Spain was a conquered country, and under the heel of the
French armies whom Wellington was o]»posing, all the Spanish South American
colonies one after the other threw oft' her authority, and the Plate States amongst
them, and most of the Spanish troops then in the country went over to the cause of
Independence. The leader of the revolt in Buenos Aires was General Belgrano.
But under the total anarchy that then followed in the Argentine capital and provinces
it was no easy matter to establish a new government over the scattered and half
civilised population of this vast country. The estanciex'os kept what order they
could in their immediate neighbourhood among their gauchos and Indian tribes, and
banded themselves together in loose defensive leagues in each province. But in 1814
Belgrano came to England, with instructions from the leading citizens to beg the
English to return to the Plate, and asked for an English protectorate, if possilile
under an English Prince. But the Napoleonic war was over .; the tyrant had abdi-
cated April 4th, 1814 ; and in the same year the Allied Sovereigns were visiting
London. The political reasons for opposition to Spain had now passed away. It
was "too late." The English as a government would do nothing for them now;
they must struggle as best they might out of the disorder and confusion which they had
brought upon themselves. In the War of Independence, however, that lasted from 1810
to 1826, the indomitable energy of our countrymen, who, like Byron in the Greek
War of Independence, voluntarily gave their services on behalf of freedom, aided
vastly in the emancipation of South America; and they have become the national
heroes of the several States they fought for. In Venezuela under General MacGregor
as many as 5,000 British subjects fell fighting between 1813 and 1826 ; Admiral
Brown in the Argentine service destroyed the Spanish naval power on the eastern
side, while Lord Uundonald in the service of Chili did the same on the western
coast and afterwards entered the Brazilian service. General Miller, in the
service of Peru, won the final and decisive battle of Ayacucho : and in 1821
Bolivar confessed that it was the steadiness of the British legion of volunteers that
secured the independence of Colombia. The exploits of these leaders, as well as
those of the many English officers who served with them both on shore and afloat,
may perhaps be held to have helped forward the fulfilment of that prophecy which
was said by the Spaniards themselves to have been written in the Aztec temple of
the sun at Cuzco, that the delivery of South America would be efl'ected by a nation
called English. Lord Palmerston reckoned that 150 millions of English money
had been simk in loans and enterprises in the South American states. Since then
they are what they are mainly through the indirect help of the English, it causes
one all the more to regret that their liberation and subsequent development was not
more directly, more thoroughly, and more cheaply accomplished by carrying out the
policy of Canning and the two Pitts, and bringing them beneath the British flag.

278 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

caught, the bails wind round them and tie him up securely, and
over he falls on his side. Two or three horses that had never
been ridden were thus caught and afterwards mounted for the first
time, after much resistance, by gauchos, or native horsemen, who
are, by descent, a mixture of Spaniard and Indian ; they are, from
infancy, trained to the use of the lasso and the handling of horses
and cattle. A series of pads and rugs were put upon the horse
while lying on tlie ground with his legs tied, and a strong bridle
with very powerful bit and ring was put in his mouth. He was
then allowed to get up, and the gaucho sprang on his back with
great agility ; two other riders on tame horses rode alongside or
behind to bump him when requisite. All his buck -jumping could
not get his rider out of the saddle ; the man drove him into
a gallop, and away they went over the open pampas till the horse
got blown, and gave in. We then had another fine scamper over
the plain to where, a few miles off, under a clump of trees, came
cum cuiro, or " beef cooked in the hide," had been prepared, one
of the luxuries of " the camp " or up-country life. The whole
half of a carcase is roasted, on long iron rods for spits, before a
camp-fire ; it certainly preserves its fiavour thus, and some pieces
were very succulent and good. The mate, or Paraguayan tea,
too was very refreshing. It is the dried leaves of a species of
Ilex, which the Indians gather in the forests, chiefly in the province
of Parana, and a supply of which is carried by each of the gauchos,
in a powdered form, in a small bag attached to his belt, together
with a small hollow globular calabash or bowl about three inches
in diameter (like an orange with a hole an inch across at the top),
and sometimes mounted in silver — which he half fills with these
greenish -coloured powdered leaves, and after pouring hot water
upon them, then imbibes the liquid up through a silver or other
tube about twelve inches long ; in this way you get not more
than two teaspoonfuls of liquid. The effect of this tea on those
not used to it sometimes produces diarrhoea, but those who are
habituated to its use find that by its help they can endure the
longest day's work even without food. It is exported in packets
two feet square, tightly compressed in ox-hide. We stayed in the
shade of the trees listening to various tales of gaucho adventure,
some, perhaps, overdrawn, but all more or less entertaining.
The gauchos are fine-looking fellows, all with a hardy air of well-
fed contentment, and as they live in the saddle and open air are as
brown as mahogany. The head gaucho on Mr. Dunster's estancia

1880. DURAZNO. 270

or farm, a German by extraction, gave Eddy some furs which he
liad himself prepared, of jaguar, wild cat, and seals, and to George
a couple of lassos and bolas, which we had seen used earlier in
the day. Then after another good gallop to see some fine oxen
that had been penned, and also some horses, we returned to
Durazno station. We were all very hot and dusty, so Mr.
Chamberlain proposed that those who would like a bathe should
mount the engine that was standing in the station, and run back
on it to the other side of the viaduct, and there go down to the
river for a swim, which was accordingly done. The elder members
of the party had their bath in the room under the engine tank,
where cold water was pumped over them. We returned to dinner
which had been brought up from Monte Video in the train, and
which was now laid out in a long room at the station, prettily
decorated for the occasion. W^hat few rooms there were, were
afterwards utilised for sleeping, but the majority slept very com-
fortably in along train — brought up for that purpose from Monte
Video — of luggage waggons, in each of which a couple of iron camp
bedsteads with washhand-stands, &c., had been rigged up. Before
breakfast next morning the whole train was run down to the
river, and the occupants bathed luxuriously before dressing. The
air up here is most invigorating, and wonderfully light and dry ;
and the natural moisture after exertion is quickly absorbed from
the surface of the skin ; and one is quite surprised at the amount
of liquid in the shape of light wine, lemonade, or oranges, that it
requires to allay one's thirst.

[There are only two classes of immigrants fitted for Uruguay —
those who are accustomed to manual labour (as farm labourers or
mechanics), and those who have capital to invest. Nondescripts
and loafers come here to a speedy end ; weeds at home, they are
worse than weeds here. Cattle rearing is the chief industry ; it
requires more land and less labour than agriculture, but more local
and special knowledge than sheep-farming. The cattle industry,
like everything else in Uruguay, is influenced by the existing
state of transition from the semi-barbarous freedom, or lawlessness,
of a thinly-peopled and pastoral country, to a condition similar to
that of a British colony. But even so, there is probably no country
in the world (not even the Argentine republic) so rich in herds of
cattle, if the number be estimated in proportion to population or
extent of territory. In 1878 the proportion was 32 head of
cattle per square kilometre, and 1.385 for every hundred of the

280

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1880.

population ; of sheep there were 65 per square kilometre, and 2,770
for every hundred of the population. In Buenos Aires, however,
of sheep there were 215 per kilometre, and 8,275 for every
hundred of the population, but of cattle there were only 930 for
every hundred of the population, and 24 per square kilometre.
The rearing of cattle is undoubtedly attended by great risks.
Diseases and droughts may destroy them by hundreds. The
droughts are more fatal to cattle than to sheep. In the whole
of Uruguay there are, this year, twenty millions of sheep, one
and a-half million horses, and at least seven million cattle, valued
at about ten millions sterling — that is to say, nearly twice as many
sheep as there are in the colony of Victoria, more horses than
there are in the whole of Australia, and nearly as many cattle.
The wool is said to compare favourably with the choicest wool from
Australia; most of it is consumed, however, not in England, but in
Belgium and Germany. The sheep industry on any large scale
dates only from 1855 ; now 50,000,000 lbs. of wool are exported
annually. Shepherds earn about 85/. a year, lodging, and rations
as much as they can eat; unmarried Englishwomen, if careful
hands at housekeeping, can easily find places at the same wages,
and soon marry.

1. Suppose the case of any one starting with a capital of 1,500Z.
He could rent about 5,000 acres at about 80/. per annum ; on which
he would easily maintain 8,000 sheep and 500 cattle. 2,400 sheep
(at 10s. each) would cost 1,200/. ; thirty mares and horses 25/. On
two station-houses he would expend 160/., and on furniture, cart,
and implements, 40/. ; in all, 1,425/. His original stock in five
years would increase to 8,800, or (deducting sheep sold) to 7,400 ;
and his balance-sheet (with average luck), should stand thus : —

Receipt for Wool, 1st year
,, ,, 2iul year

,, ,, 3rd year

Saleof 1,400 Sheep

Sale of Wool, 4tli year
,, ,, 5th year

Total receipt
Total expenditure

5,000 Sheep increase at 10s.
Horses, &c., at half cost ...

£180
240
320
600
320
400

£2,060
1,510

£550

1,970

100

Profits in five years ... £3,150

Expenditure, 1st year
,, 2nd year

,, 3rd year

,, 4 th year

,, 5th year

Rent of ground (5 years)

. .=^150
180
240
240
300

^1,110
400

£1,510

So that at the end of the fifth year he
has more than doubled his capital.

1880.

WHAT MAY BE DONE IN URUGUAY.

281

2. Supposing a man starts with 5,000Z. capital ; then he had better
purchase, not rent. He can purchase about 5,600 acres for 2,000Z.
(the average price of pasture land is 6s. 8^. an acre ; of arable,
1/. 8s., although the greater part of what is now used for pastoral
purposes could be converted ultimately into arable land) — stock it
with 3,000 sheep for 1,500/.; 600 head of cattle, 450/.; horses,
50/. ; buildings and implements, 600/. The increase on horned
cattle is generally estimated at one-third on capital. Thus in five
years his balance-sheet should show thus : —

Incr

:'ease 1st yeai'.
2nd year
3 I'd year
4th year
5 th year

Sales

stock of Sheep.
3,000
1,000
1,300
1,700
1,800
2,000

10,800
2,8€0

Of Cattle.
600
200
260
360
340
400

2,160

800

8,000
3,000

5,000

1st year
2nd year
3rd year
4th year
5lh year

1,360
600

EXPENDITUIIE

^CSOO
300
350
400
450

£1,800

Capital

Net Increase

Eeceipts.

Sale of Wool, 1st year £225

,, 2nd year 300

„ 3rd year 520

,, 4th year ... ... 550

,, 5th year 450

1,400 Sheep sold 600

1,400 ,, 600

400 head of cattle 300

400 „ „ 300

£3,845
Deduct expenses 1,800

Surplus cash ^2,045

5,000 Sheep 2,500

760 head of cattle 570

Profit in five years, 5,115Z., on an outlay of 4,600?.

The average value of cattle per head is 25s. ; and of sheep, 4s. ; cattle for
killing, 51s. (These balance sheets are taken from The Republic of Uruguay, General
Statistics, issued by authority of the consulate general of Uruguay. Stanford, Charing
Cross.)

But make no mistake, you wouldn't get that, or indeed anything
at all without working, and working hard for it. Education and
good connections profit you nought here. A man must have
plenty of pluck and plenty of experience before he settles as a

282 CRUISE OF H.MS. BACCHANTE. 1880.

sheep farmer. As master he must work a good deal harder than
his men ; sleep on the ground, be able to carpenter and cook, do
any drudgery, and take any sort of food, keep at it with perse-
verance and keen vigilance, live, in fact, as a man with all his
fciculties awake b(>th of body and mind, and then, and then only,
will he win. " Civilisation Avith him will mean," (in Canon
Kingsley's words) ^-" not more wealth, more finery, more self-
indulgence, nor more aesthetic and artistic luxury — but more
virtue, more knowledge, more self-control, even though he earn
scanty bread by heavy toil." The contest is a hard one, and many
are not equal to it; the life is solitary, and with all its liberty,
tlie blue skies and brilliant hopes, there are hard times at starting ;
but at the end of it all you get fourteen per cent, on your capital
invested, with the satisfaction that it is all your own, and that your
character has been strengthened, and that you are more than
fourteen per cent, bettered as a man. Some of the wealthiest
landed proprietors now in the River Plate were either originally
themselves English, Irish, or Scotch settlers, or are the sons and
grandsons of such men.

3. Now take the agriculturist on a small scale : A family can
establish themselves on a patch of land of thirty or forty acres,
and provide themselves with a house, two working oxen, a milch
cow, two carts and the necessary implements, for under 50/. One
year's expenditure (including rent, and ten per cent, interest on
borrowed 50/.) would be about 60/. With fair luck the produce of
the land should yield them a net profit of 18/. or 20/. to add to their
capital. They would raise wheat, maize, potatoes and lucern. In
the neighbourhood of Monte Video it is chiefly immigrants from the
Canary Islands who adopt this method of life, as well as Basques,
and small Italian farmers. The soil is very fertile, and its produce
could be increased to any extent, but at present pasturage is
more remunerative. The poorer classes of European immigrants
(Swiss, Waldenses, Spaniards), often form agricultural settlements
or communities (of four or five thousand in all), with their proper
complement of artisans, mechanics, &c., and with their own chap-
lain ; and as far as local questions are concerned the community
governs itself. It possesses reading-rooms, clubs, musical societies
and rifle associations. Several of these settlements are models of
frugal social comfort, and minister by their existence to the benefit
of the larger state community. They prosper as peasant pro-
prietors by hard work and the sale of their wheat and Indian corn,

1880. AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS. 283

eggs, poultry, potatoes, beans, &c. Such a settlement would occupy
twelve square miles of land, divided into farms of about twenty-six
acres, for which they would pay about 40/. each. Of all systems of
emigration on a larsje scale it seems as if this method of colonising^
by communities or settlements will eventually prove the most effi-
cient. The Germans have lately started such a settlement on the
banks of the Uruguay. What is wanted in new countries, is
numbers ; and men and women with ordinary capacities, and
willingness to work steadily, and remain permanently. In the back
country bordering on Brazil, land may be had cheaper, (at 2s. an acre,)
and is very fertile, while the climate is that of Italy or the South
of France. About one-third of the immigrants that come to
Uruguay are of this agricultural class; last year about 10,000 in
all arrived, and this has been about the average for the last five
years. Of those that came last year over 4,000 were Italian,
2,500 Spanish, another 1,000 Basques from France, 500 English,
and about the same number German.

The immigrants most needed by Uruguay are agricultural
labourers and female servants. The last are sure of finding employ-
ment. Steady young men of good constitutions and accustomed to
sober, out-door country life, can earn, at the sheep farms, 8/. a
month with board and lodging ; and after a short time get a flock
of sheep, with a third of the profits — and so ultimately (if worth
their salt) become independent sheep farmers. The fare third-
class from Liverpool is 12/., and the passage out takes a month.]

Dec. SOth — Started at 9 A.M., and ran down in the special train
(after thanking Mr. Dunster and Mr. Wingate for all they had shown
us at Durazno) to Monte Video, over the same undulating pampas
with here and there low woods and brushwood, cactus hedges
and eucalyptus trees. Half-way down, a fine fox, off the pampas,
was handed into the train in his box, which the flag-captain took
possession of. He accompanied the squadron afterwards to the
Cape, but never renounced his natural habits, and made sad gaps
in the Admiral's hencoops, and occasionally among the marines'
boots. We arrived at Monte Video at 3 P.M., and drove straight to
the Hotel Oriental, where we got our luggage, and went at once
on board the Mk, which then got under way, and after picking
up from the Bacchante Dr. Turnbull, and from the flagship Prince
Louis of Battenburg, left at 5 P.M. and steamed up the river,
120 miles, to Buenos Aires. Although the River Plate looks a
large estuary on the map, it is not navigable for ships of large

284 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1880.

draught ; and evea for those drawing a dozen feet the passage is a
very narrow one, and at Buenos Aires tliey have to lie out two or
three miles from the town. The deepest water by the pier head
there is only five feet deep. The usual way to land passengers and
goods is to unload them from the ships into small boats, and when
these have rowed in as close ^ to shore as the shallow water will
allow, their contents are transferred to carts that come alongside.
This method considerably increases the expense attending their
conveyance.

We had intended to have gone across the country from Monte
Video to Colonia (the oldest settlement of the Portuguese, founded
in 1680), partly by train and partly riding, and thus have visited
the Swiss colony, and from Colonia have gone up the Uruguay
river in the gun-vessel to Fraybentos, in order to see Liebig's extract
of meat factory, and to Paysandu for McCall's ox-tongue preserving
establishment. At the first of these places, one hundred cattle are
killed by machinery, skinned and cut up in an hour ; over 1,200 a
day, or over 150,000 a year of five months. This employs 500 men.
Each skinner gets Qd. a head ; at the height of the season a man
can skin thirty- three in a day, and thus earn over 16s. But if,
in skinning, he makes a hole in the skin, he loses his payment for
that animal. Eighty vessels during the year are loaded at the
wharves there, for Europe, with the Extract. It is stewed in huge
cauldrons, and packed in large cube tins holding about 110 lbs.;
each of these tins contains, on an average, the substance of fifteen
animals, and is worth about 501. On arrival in Europe their
contents are subdivided. Near Monte Video there are nine
saladeros (or salting grounds), and ten on the river Uruguay.

At the present time it is calculated that in the whole of the
country, over a million and a-half of cattle are thus worked up
annually. Of these more than half a million are simply killed for
the tallow and hides they produce for export. The summer is the
season for killing at the saladeros ; oxen, young and in good con-
dition, are then sold at 4/. each (his hide and tallow will fetch half
that sum, and the meat the other half). The different inventions
for facilitating the export of meat, as in tins or chemically prepared,
or in refrigerated chambers, will enormously improve the cattle
industry. Already mutton is exported frozen to England, both
from Colonia and Campana; 1,500 frozen sheep go to one cargo.

We went straight up through the night to Buenos Aires ; it was
fine and calm, and we made a good passage and slept comfortably

1880. MONTE VIDEO TO BUENOS AIRES. 285

on board slung in cots in the after cabin. Captain Clanchy's
ship's company are a healthy-looking lot, as hardy and cheerful as
can'be, through being well-fed on the beef of the country and well
seasoned in the sun.

Dec. ^\st. — The Elk, on account of her light draught, is able to
go in almost within a stone's- throw of the jetty, at which we land
at 10 A.M. Here the British minister, Sir Horace Rumbold, Bai^t.,
and Mr. Egerton, his secretary, met us, and took us out at once by
train to Belgrano, a short distance to the north of the town, where
he is staying. The captain, the doctor, and Prince Louis, are put
up at the very pretty quinta of a Belgian gentleman, and in the
midst of a large and shady garden, at a short distance from the
minister's. The village of Belgrano appears to have been laid out
on a more ambitious plan than has at present been executed.
The streets are broad and at right angles to each other, but the
houses at their sides few and far between ; there is a large church,
and other unfinished buildings. After luncheon we ran back into
the town in the train, and first walked to the Museum, which con-
tains some very splendid geological specimens of gigantic sloths
and other extinct animals, dug up from the pampas. We walked
about the town, the streets of which are all at right angles to each
other, at regular distances of about 140 yards apart, and exhibit
every evidence of much wealth and trade. Most of the houses are
of one storey only ; some are of three ; every one is flat-topped and
has a terrace on the roof, and one or two courts in the middle with
windows looking into them. The population of Buenos Aires
(which is so called from the healthy and pure air which the prevalent
south-west pampero wind brings from the interior) is just under
300,000, or about half that of Liverpool, and not quite so many as
that of Sheffield. We looked into severatl of the shops, which are
really very good in this South American Melbourne about equal in
size to the Victorian capital. We then went to the Custom House
(which was the old semi-circular fort that Beresford occupied) and
across the Plaza Vittoria, surrounded with very fine public buildings,
and so called in memory of the Argentine victory over the British.
The English flag of the 71st Highlanders, still bearing marks of
the gallant defence of St. Jean d'Acre against Napoleon, which
was captured when Beresford was driven from this square 12th
August, 1806, is exhibited as a trophy in the church of San
Domingo close by. We then drove with Sir Horace to call on the

286 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

President of the Argentine Republic, General Roca, at his country
liouse outside the town, and so home to dinner at Belgrano, to
Avhich were invited some of the very large number of English who
have settled out here,

Ja7i. 1st, 1881. — New Year's Day dawned wet and stormy, with
much thunder and wind. There was to have been a cricket-match
between the officers of the squadron and the English club of resi-
dents at Buenos Aires, but it rained so heavily all the morning that
it was impossible to play. However, towards midday it cleared up
a bit, and so we drove in the President's private carriage, which he
had kindly sent for our use, three miles from Belgrano to Palermo.
This is the name of the park, where there is a long and broad
avenue of palm trees, which were planted by Rosas, whose old
palace, a curious square building, where strange scenes were
enacted during his twenty years' tyranny (1829 to 1852), is
stili standing, though now deserted ; and so on by the new
Exhibition buildings, and some pretty plantations artificially laid
out and watered, and which consist of weeping willows, poplars,
and other shrubs, together with the ubiquitous eucalyptus. At
the ground we found a scratch match going on, which adjourned
at two for lunch in the tent, given by the Buenos Aires cricket
club. At 3 P.M. we left in a special train on the Ferro carril del
Sud, which Mr. Cooper, the superintendent of the line, had drawn
up for us close to the cricket ground. The two large saloon
carriages were banded on the outside with the Argentine colours,
in light blue and white silk ; in the centre of this was a square,
with the English royal arms ; in the interior of the carriage the
Prince of Wales's plumes had been illuminated, and there we
found two gun-room friends, Erskine of the Garnet, and Wemyss
from the Bacchante, who had come up from Monte Video that
morning, waiting for us. The line runs first through the town,
and then over one very long iron bridge by the shore. We
steamed away south over the pampas to Rauchos, and to Villa
Nueva, where we arrived after a capital run over the 125 miles
from Buenos Aires at 7 P.M.

The railway is laid on iron sleepers (the gauge of the line is
5' 6", the English narrow gauge being 4' 8^"), and is fenced in in
parts with iron wire fencing, run through posts of a wood that is
incorruptible in the black earth. The pampas on the southern
side of the Plate are much flatter than those we saw on the
Uruguayan or northern side ; the general effect of the landscape is

1881. BUENOS AIRES TO VILLA NUEVA. 287

similar to that in passing over the Cambridgeshire fens, going
down to Sandringham, though, of course, there are no Cambridge-
shire dykes. We passed flocks of emus, and ostriches, and sheep,
and herds of cattle and horses ranging, apparently wild, over the
grass}" and nearly treeless plain. The wire fences extend but a
short distance, and most of the way there is nothing to prevent
the animals coming on the line. Each engine has a huge pro-
jection in front called a " cow-catcher," which shovels and thrusts
away from the train any stray animals who may chance to have
so far forgotten themselves as to have wandered on to " the way,"
or fallen asleep upon it Most of us took turns in riding upon
this projection, where it was very cool and pleasant to meet the
air. The rain that had fallen in the morning had completely laid
the dust, which at other times, rising from the dry black soil, is
very troublesome to the traveller; this, however, as the grass grows
over the line, will much diminish. The railway is to be pushed on
to Bahia Blanca (444 miles from Buenos Aires), and ultimately
to San Jose, the best harbour on the Patagonian coast. The
ironclads which the Argentines are purchasing in Europe cannot
get up the Plate to Buenos Aires, but either of these ports they
could enter, and if it be necessary for them to establish a naval
depot it could be done there ; but as ports for trade they both lie
too far to the south, and away from the main river arteries.
Railways on this flat country can be constructed at a comparatively
small outlay. The 850 miles belonging to this company were laid
at a cost of less than three millions sterling. The ordinary stock
pays this year eleven per cent. It was built and is managed by
an English company ; so also is the Eastern Argentine railway and
the submarine telegraph between Monte Video and Buenos Aires.
All the Argentine State loans have been negotiated in London,
and in the public and private undertakings more millions of English
money are invested in the Argentine country than those found by
all other investors put together. Railways, besides being here
great civilisers, vastly improve the value of the land through which
they run, on account of the facilities thus afforded for the convey-
ance of the hides and wool from the interior to the capital. At
Las Flores and other stations, we saw a number of bullock
waggons from which the wheels are removed for them to be
placed bodily on railway trucks for transport, as the wool is said
to travel best when thus packed ; they are constructed entirely of
hides belted over and bulging out at each end. On either side of

288 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

the railway there is a course of telegraph wires ; those on one side
belong to the Government, and those on the other to the Company.

Mr. Shennan (of whom we had heard so much when in the
Britannia from Captain Fairfax, who had visited him here when
senior officer on the South American station he had had command
of H.M.S. Volage), with Mr. St. John was waiting at the Villa
Nueva station with two waggonettes, one of them a four-in-hand,
to drive us to the estancia Negrete, eight miles off. Right away
over the springy turf, as through an interminable field, we drive ;
to the inexperienced eye there seem no marks by which to tell the
road, but here and there in the distance are little clumps of trees
and other landmarks, which are known well to the estanciero.
The last part of our drive was by starlight ; we saw the bizcachos
(like large hares), each with his attendant owl, coming out in the
dusk to sit beside his hole. They sleep by day, and make their
appearance towards sunset ; at first they sit by the mouths of their
burrows, looking sleepy and drowsy, but after a bit become lively
and active enough. They live in families like rabbits. Their
bodies are two feet long, covered with grey fur, ears short, eyes
large and black, faces a mixture of badger and guinea-pig, tails
sometimes a foot long like beavers, only ending in a tuft of black
hair. They have also black whiskers, and four long sharp gnawing
teeth. There were also numbers of the tero-teros, a sort of large
brown plover, only with a horn or spur at the tip of each wing.
They rose circling and uttering their melancholy note. We
arrived at Negrete at 8.30 p.m., suddenly coming upon this large
European house in the midst of its plantations, right out in the
middle of the pampas. After dinner turned in rather tired.

Jan. 2nd. — Early this morning we went out into the garden, and
found to what a pretty house we had come, for it was too dark last
night to see anything of the grounds. It is only one story high,
and is entered from a pillared portico on the exterior, and arranged
like all houses out here, round a blue-tiled courtyard with a
well in the middle, with iron framework for bucket over it. The
water drawn from this well is deliciously cool, and similar water
may be drawn anywhere " in Camp," (i.e. " in the country," as con-
trasted with the town) by sinking wells for about four feet below
the surface. About the courtyard are many plants and shrubs, and
on to it the bedrooms open. The garden has a fine lawn surrounded
by eucalyptus or gum-trees, which seem to flourish everywhere here,
and by willow, Scotch fir, poplar and acacia. There are beds of

1881. ESTANCIA NEGRETI. 289

Englisli flowers, scarlet and variegated geraniums, heliotrope,
lovely roses of all sorts, and rows of scarlet gladiolus. In the
kitchen garden were apple and pear trees, gooseberries and
currants, and plenty of English vegetables of every kind. After
breakfast we sat quietly under a tree in the sunshine, observing
the birds and insects. First came the brown oven-bird, a sort of
pigeon, which builds its nest, of what is apparently mud, at the
corners of the eaves of the house : in the interior of each of them
there is a division down the middle. Then came a large sort of
wasp with huge wings, a formidable-looking creature, like the Jack
Spaniards at Trinidad, but he doesn't come much into the house ;
there were multitudes of ants too, black and brown, as industrious
as usual, but larger than those in England. Of the birds that were
singing, one fellow, called ben-te-veo (" I see you,") from the note
he constantly utters, is said to be the same as our Trinidad friend
qui Stes-vous, and just as vociferous. At noon we read the Sunday
church service, in the drawing-room; where all the furniture is
English, and where there is a nice little library of English books ;
and afterwards went for a drive, in two waggonettes, a little way
over the pampas, to a 'rodeo' of 400 horses. These consisted of
three herds of mares, with one stallion to each herd, who marshals
his ladies and never lets them stray. They were driven into the
'rodeo' (or enclosure), from three different directions, by the
gauchos ; the head one of these was in a Zouave-like suit of black
cloth ; his broad leathern belt was completely covered with large
silver coins, and the scabbard in which he carried his cutlass knife
was one mass of silver ; the bridle of his horse was silver and leather
twisted together, all his horse-trappings were silver mounted,
and beneath his stirrups there was a sort of hollow, cup- shaped
appendage, turned topsy-turvy, also of silver. He was a fine,
stalwart, grey-bearded old fellow, and had been in Mr. Shennan's
service for very many years. We saw several colts lassoed out
of this herd, which up till to-day had wandered wild on the
pampas, and then, for the first time, saddled and mounted. The
first taken in hand allowed himself to be mounted at once without
much trouble. The gauchos sawed his mouth with the bit at
first, and then rode off full gallop between two other mounted
gauchos, whose trained steeds kept close alongside the other.
The second colt that was lassoed occasioned more trouble than the
first, and buck-jumped a good deal ; however, he had to give in,
for he had found his master. The tails of the mares, some of
VOL. I. u

290 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

them, were like huge clubs, hard and stiff; we cut off a few as a
relief to the animals. The hairs of the tail become completely
matted and hardened together by means of * devil's horns/ which
are a kind of seed-pod, each side of which terminates in a large
hook about three inches in diameter. These pods accumulate on
the tails of the horses as they wander over the pampas. Driving
home we stopped to examine the native way of drawing water.
Over a tank-like well is suspended, from two crossed sticks, a large
wooden scoop-ladle, with a square funnel-shaped handle, which,
when tilted up, allows the water to run backwards through itself,
and so down into the troughs outside fur the cattle. In the well
there was a green toad very aged, fat, and large. Then home to
lunch. At 4 P.M. we went in another direction over the pampas,
some of the party on ponies and the rest in a waggonette. Our
course lay through myriads of tall thistles (which cover the ground
for acres in some places and are one of the greatest nuisances of the
settler), to a cattle rodeo, where there were 3,000 cattle, the largest
number that had ever been driven together into one enclosure. A
few gauchos rode after them, but no other living thing was visible
for miles. It was a fine sight, like an English cattle fair, only that
the animals seemed to have more character in their heads, and to
be larger and stronger, though not so stout. Several of them were
lassoed and bolassed. The lasso is thrown over the animal's horns,
or the bolas round their fore or hind legs. The captured animal, in
each case, falls on its side. The man who throws the lasso prepares
himself, and his horse, for the shock which he will receive when
thus brought up sharp. One of our officers tried to throw the
bolas as he was galloping about on his steed, but he got them
entangled all round the legs of his own horse and his own body,
and nearly came to grief; it looks easy enough to throw, but
requires much practice. We had thus a very pleasant day, spent
quite unrestrainedly in the country. The tero-tero rose shrieking
on every side ; the prairie owls and the brown pigeon, which utters
a cry like, but not the same, as ben-te-veo, alone enlivened the scene,
and the only drawback was the flies, which swarmed everywhere.

Jan. Srd. — After an early breakfast we started — most riding on
ponies, and the rest in a waggonette — for a progress over the pampas
to a lagoon, fifteen miles off, to shoot wildfowl. The warm, dry,
light, fresh air of the pampas with the scent of the wild flowers,
with which the grass was full, rendered the drive most enjoyable.
The three different sorts of wild verbena, scarlet, white, and lilac.

1881. OVER THE PAMPAS. 291

and a few yellow flowers, were the chief kinds that we noticed. In
some parts were tussocks of pampas grass ; the rest was springy turf
or else tall thistles, which are said to be a sign of fertile land. We
passed here and there skeletons of dead horses and cows left to rot
on the pampas. It is said to be a not uncommon crime to kill a
bullock and steal the best parts of its hide and flesh, and then make
believe that the animal died from natural causes. We arrived at
the lagoon, or salt marsh, and saw multitudes of white wild swans,
with black tips to their wings ; flamingoes, ibises (of two kinds, the
smaller of dark glossy green, the other, four times his size, green
and brown mixed) ; sandpipers, wild duck of many sorts, teal and
herons, which literally blackened the sky. The rose-coloured
flamingoes looked very pretty : their bill is four inches long, their
body about one foot and a-half, and their legs a little over a foot.
The shooters waded into the water and to the reed-beds in the
centre, from which the birds were rising, and those of our number
who were not shooting rode in on horseback on the opposite side
to beat them up. We shot a large turkey-buzzard or crested
screamer ; his plumage was slatey, and he had two talons or spurs
on each of his wings, one at the tip joint, large and very strong, the
other smaller and lower down the wing. Chaja is the native name
of the bird ; he had a black ring round the neck, his legs were
bright red. At four o'clock we drove back to Negreti, which is
visible, with its clump of trees, twelve miles ofl". Two gaucho out-
riders, in their ponchos, trimmed with mauve braid bands, galloped
along at the side. So to lunch, to which we all did full justice.
After that there was a game of polo; on one side were Mr. Shennan
(il Patrone), George, Prince Louis, Mr. Cooper; and on the other
side were Mr. St. John, the captain, Eddy, and Osborne. Six games
were played ; of these the first three were won by the latter (the
Bacchantes, as they called themselves), and the last three by the
other side. The ponies were well trained, and the game is often
played here, and makes an agreeable variety in the 'camp' life,
which is said to be monotonous, owing to the want of neighbours.

Jan. Uh. — All we youngsters went ofl" in a trap at 8 A.M. to
another lagoon for some more wildfowl shooting, and the others had
their last ride over the pampas ; but we first went over the farm
buildings, arid saw, especially, some fine specimens of the Negreti
breed of sheep, which is striped, and was introduced by Mr.
Hannah, Mr. Shennan s predecessor, from Spain. The breed was
the exclusive property of the King of Spain, who sent the first

U 2

292 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

ram and ewes straight from his own farm. It has been much
improved, however, by skilful crossing with English Leicesters
since it left his hands. The estancia itself is, in fact, called after
the breed, and not the breed after the place. On this estancia,
which is eighteen miles square (where Mr. Shennan has been ten
years) there are 35,000 sheep, 10,000 cattle, and 800 horses. A
square league (three miles) of land of fair quality will carry 2,500
head of cattle or horses, and 10,000 sheep, giving fleeces weighing
on an average 6 lbs., but not unfrequently as much as 18 lbs.
But the wool is often deteriorated by the curious persistency
with which the seeds of a kind of clover cling to it. We are told
that the best land in Australia will only carry one-sixth of what
the best land in this province can, and is about on a par with
the lightest and poorest here.^ The chief drawback here is the
frequent occurrence of droughts. The evil can be met by digging
wells served by horse-pumps. Last drought Mr. Shennan lost only
150 animals, because his estate is all carefully fenced and divided off
into paddocks. Water abounds at depths of from ten to fifteen feet,
and in carefully managed estates a well is sunk in each paddock
with a horse-pump to fill the tanks, which is done morning and
evening when necessary. No man can do anything without thus
fencing his ' camp,' and to do so costs from 40/. to 50/. per
mile. These plains, with their free, open, boundless expanse, and
their brisk, healthy air, will long dwell in our memories. One
might imagine at first, that a huge expanse of grass, all at a dead
level, could not exert any power over the mind and imagination,
yet it certainly does, somehow, with its herds and birds and wild
flowers, and we were all very sorry when it was time to go to the
train. Before this, however, we walked round the grounds near
the house, and groves, and paddocks, enclosed by plantations. We
went to the gum-trees to try and find an opossum, but if the
opossum was there he was not to be caught. We visited the little
cemetery, which lies within old red-brick walls in one corner of the

1 Fairly good land, to the west, south of Buenos Aires and within ninety miles of
the capital, is worth 25s. an acre. Further away and down to Bahia Blanca, land is
worth 55. an acre. Mr. Shennan had bought three orher estates further south near
Bahia Blanca, forty-five square miles (fifteen square leagues) in all. South of
Bahia Blanca the Government is selling the land at 7 id. an acre. It is being rapidly
bought up, for the railway will soon enhance the value. Tussocky grass beyond
Bahia Blanca covers the plains right down to the Straits of Magellan. Napp, The
Argentine RepuhliCy 1876, with elabotate statistics, makes out (p. 308) that at the
lowest estimate the gain on capital invested in estancias in the province of Buenos
Aires is 20 per cent., and often more than 35 per cent. But if there are some who
by pluck and good lu(;k make this, there are others who are ruined over the business.

1881. BACK TO BUENOS AIRES. 293

paddock and is overshadowed by trees. Three graves stand here
side by side ; the first, that of the doctor, who married the lady
heiress of the estate ; the next, that of her second husband (the
doctor's executor), who died of yellow fever three months after
his marriage ; the third, that of the lady herself and her third
husband, who was the first love of her youth, and who happened
to be also a widower at the time when his old lady love required
his services. There are a few gaiicho graves also in the enclosure.
After lunch we drove back to the station, and left at 3 P.M. by
train for Buenos Aires. After a very good, though dusty run,
we arrived at Belgrano at 6.80 p.m. Dined quietly, and afterwards
went to the ball given by the British residents to the Admiral and
officers of the squadron, at the Opera House. Mr. Carlyle was
president of the committee. This was really a very beautiful
spectacle. The whole of the house, both the pit and behind the
scenes, was floored in at one level, for dancing ; in the centre,
where the drop-scene would be, was a screen of huge mirrors, which
thus divided the house practically into two ball-rooms, and the
band played in a sorfc of balcony above these mirrors. Supper was
laid out in another large room up stairs. Many ladies sat in the
boxes looking on at the dancing. The amount of flowers that
were used in decorating various parts of the house must have been
enormous, and most of them were sent as presents from private
gardens. A great number of officers from the squadron were there,
as the committee had chartered a special steamer to bring them
up the river from Monte Video, and besides, were most hospitable
in putting them up during their stay in Buenos Aires. The cost
of the ball itself was over 2,000/., and there were about 800 people
present. The President and his Ministers came, and when they
entered, the Argentine national air was played ; this is rather a
weird and strange medley, with a loud clanging sort of chorus, but
the general effect is fine and rousing at any rate ; the music is in
unison for several of the bars, and reverts to the original air in
harmony. We left the ball at 2 A.M.

Jan. htli, — After breakfast we went into Buenos Aires by train
from Belgrano, and walked first to the Stranger's Club, a comfort-
able, cosy, and cool house. We went to several shops, amongst
the rest to see the beautiful furs and ponchos, or riding cloaks,
woven from the dark or creamy-brown hair of the vicuna or lama ;
they are very light and fine, and impenetrable by rain. At 3 P.M.
we went on board the Elk, which was lying off the jetty ; it was a

294 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

calm, fine night, with just a little wind from the south-east, which
died away at sunset. We slept on board in the same manner
as we had done coming up the river. The rest of the officers
who had come up from the squadron returned in the Silex, which
started at 6 P.M. So ended our most pleasant voyage up the River
Plate. According to the original programme we were to have
visited Rosario in the JiJ/k from Campana, and then gone on to
Cordova by train, to see the Jesuit Seminary, and Jesu Maria, and
the Observatory. This, owing to want of time, had to be given
up. But our visit to * the Camp ' and Buenos Aires will not soon
be forgotten. The Minister has been most kind, attentive, and
hospitable ; and the President has shown every civility and wished
to do a great deal more ; he sent us this morning a fine present of
furs of the country through the Minister ; and the warm-hearted-
ness and sincere geniality of the British residents have been
displayed unceasingly during our stay.

[No part of South America has advanced so fast within the
last twenty years as the River Plate. The Argentine Republic
in the South penetrates Antarctic regions, and in the North
stretches into sub- tropical lands and perpetual summer, but its
central and larger portion is in the temperate zone, with an
area ten times that of Great Britain and Ireland, or as large
as the whole of Europe without Russia. Half is occupied by
Indian tribes, but it is calculated that it would besides these
support a population of 300,000,000. At present it contains scarcely
3,000,000 ; but over 60,000 quiet, hardworking frugal settlers, the
greater number from Italy or Spain, are now coming in every year.
This is at about the same rate that folk are pouring into Australia ;
as the present Argentine population is about equal to that of
Australia, it will be interesting in the future to watch the develop-
ment of these two rival queens of the southern hemisphere. At the
end of 1882 there were in the fourteen provinces of the Argentine
Federal States over 14,000,000 horned cattle, nearly 73,000,000
sheep, and 5,000,000 horses : in the five provinces of Australia there
were at the same period about half that number of horned cattle,
about 61,000,000 sheep, and a little over 1,000,000 hoises. So if the
statistics are correct, the Argentines have the start of the Australians
in live stock. As far as trade goes, 95 per cent, of the total exports
of the Argentines consist of wool, hides, tallow, horns, and bones;
and the imports are chiefly manufactured cotton goods, coal and
iron. All foreign merchandize pays 20 per cent, ad valorem duty

1881. THE FEDERAL STATES OF THE PLATE. 295

on entrance, wines and hardware 40 per cent., grocery 30 per cent.,
iron 10 per cent. The imports have more than doubled in the
last four years, and in 1883 amounted to over 16,000,000/. sterling,
about one-third of which came from Great Britain. The imports
of Victoria alone in 1883 were over 17,000,000/., and those of the
five provinces of Australia amounted in value to more than
51,000,000/., or more than three times as much as those of the
Argentines. The exports in value amounted to over 12,000,000/.,
considerably less than the value of the exports of either Victoria
or New South Wales, or about one-fourth that of Australia as
a whole. For wealth then they can scarcely compare. The
Argentine public debt at the end of 1883 was over 45,000,000/.
sterling, more than twice that of New South Wales, but only half
that of Australia : the Argentine has to pay over 7 per cent., the
Australian only 4 or 3 J per cent, on capital borrowed, and whereas
the latter has been invested in re-productive works which for the
most part already pay to the Colonial Governments a higher interest
than they themselves pay on borrowed capital, that of the Argen-
tines has been in great measure hopelessly sunk on their former
squabbles and the army and navy expenses of the past, although
now much is being spent also in improving the condition of the
country. The total Argentine revenue is a trifle over 9,000,000/.
sterling per annum, and is raised almost entirely from customs dues
from land sales and postage ; most years there is a deficit, and the
principal item of expenditure is interest on the public debt. The
total revenue of Australia is double that of the Argentines.

The Federal constitution very nearly resembles that of the
United States. The legislative authority is vested in a National
Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Deputies. There
are twenty-eight senators, two from each province, elected by the
provincial legislatures from those who have been six years citizens ;
they sit for nine years, one-third being renewed every three years ;
and there are eighty-six deputies, one for every 20,000 inhabitants ;
they are elected for four years, and one-half must retire every two
years ; each must have been a citizen for four years before election.
Senators and Deputies each receive 700/. a year. The executive
power is left to the President, elected for six years by representatives
of the fourteen provinces, equal to double the number of senators
and deputies combined. He is commander-in-chief, and appoints to
all civil, military, and judicial offices by and with the advice of the
Senate, and to bishoprics. He has five ministers (Home, Foreign

296 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

affairs, War, Finance, and Justice) appointed by himself; they may
not be senators or deputies, they can take part in the debates of
either House but have no vote ; each receives 1,800Z. a year,
while the President has a salary of 4,000^. There is absolute
freedom of the press and of worship.

Each of the fourteen Provinces has also its own local legislature ;
they make and alter their own constitution and have complete
control over their own local matters — education, justice, railways,
canals, industries, and all municipal laws — just as each of the States
of America have, and each of our own colonial provinces in Canada
and Australasia. The people of each province elect their own
provincial governors, who possess very extensive powers, for three
years. The fourteen capitals of the fourteen separate provinces
of the Argentine Confederation are in course of being connected
by a network of railways, and as the railways are made colonis-
ation as steadily follows them, (The length open for traffic is
2,500 miles, or more than half as much as is opened for traffic
in Australia.) And it is to be hoped that the jealousies between the
other provincials and Buenos Aires (the richest and most populous
of the fourteen provinces), though natural enough at first, will now
cease, and that her citizens will be reconciled to take their part
as occupants of what must always be the capital of this vast and
fast-growing nation, and to share the growing powers with the
others, and not lord it over them as supreme. The new capital
for the province of Buenos Aires has been fixed at La Plata
(as Ensenada has been re-christened), thirty miles further south,
in the best position on the river for shipping, where vessels will be
able to lie alongside the wharves, and load and unload direct. A
system of small agricultural settlements similar to that we had seen
in Uruguay has been introduced, in which the lands are allotted
by the State to immigrants, who are grouped together in villages.
Each adult immigrant has eighty acres of land apportioned to him,
which are so laid out that all the land of the village may be
cultivated on the same system. It is stated, that as soon as an
emigrant ship arrives in the Roads she is boarded by an Argentine
Government agent ; that all immigrants are conveyed ashore free to
a Central Intelligence Office, where they have free board and lodging
for themselves and families for eight days, and afterwards a free
paid passage to any point in the Argentine territory they may
select ; that they are free from all taxes for ten years. 250 acres
of land are allotted to each of 100 families that come prepared to

1881. THE FEDERAL STATES OF THE PLATE. 297

take part in a village settlement. This land is sold by the Govern-
ment at four shillings the acre, payable in ten annual instalments
commencing in the third year after purchase. No interest is
charged. For the first year the Government advance food, a
plough, two working cattle, seeds, and hut. Unlike the forests of
North America, there is no labour and outlay in clearing the land ;
and in three years the labourer has generally repaid everything.
An Argentine ' colony/ as these villages are called, very much
resembles the primitive country townships which were once com-
mon in England, there being a large scattered township with a
common pasture and several very large fields, one of which is sown
with maize, another with wheats another with barley, and
another with grass seeds. And in some parts the growth of flax
has been introduced with success. In the village there is a church
and school. The colonists of each village are generally of the
same nation and religion ; one may consist of Swiss Calvinists,
the next of Welsh Wesley ans, and the next of Italian Catholics.
The Chilians, too, from their narrow and much over-populated
countr}^, send forth a stream of immigrants hither which, when the
railway is opened over the Andes, will be still further increased.
In addition, many people of some capital, among whom the Irish
and Scotch predominate, have become estancieros ; and besides
horses and cattle, the breeding of sheep has been introduced so
largely that the Argentine provinces rival Australia itself in
the production of wool. The province of Buenos Aires contains
45,000,000 of sheep (two-thirds of those in the republic), and
exports 150,000,000 lbs, of wool a year. In different parts of the
provinces further north, and where the temperate climate, which
prevails over the whole of the central and southern parts and
favours the normal activity of our British race, passes into the
sub-tropical ; there sugar, cotton, tobacco, rice, coffee and indigo,
are obtained. Lastly, the Argentine territory includes thousands
of square miles of metalliferous mountains ; so that it has every
possible element of prosperity. If Whitelock had not been so
weak, Buenos Aires and Monte Video at least, if not the whole
of the Plate, would still be English, and would have been a nucleus
for another Australia ; and the republics of South America would
perhaps under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxon race have made
more steady progress than they have hitherto made by them-
selves. It is not for the sake so much of Great Britain as for
that of this country and continent and people that we regret the

208 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

missed opportunity and great possibilities thrown away. The
descendants of the Spaniards in the Plate regions would have in
all probability become as enthusiastic and loyal British subjects as
those we found in Trinidad, and when they had tasted the bless-
ings of British order, rule, and administration, they would have
deprecated being left as a native republic, just as much as the
Trinidad Spaniards did the proposal that they should be given
independence like the neighbouring republic of Venezuela (p. 81).
The comparison of the Argentine Confederation with Australia
teaches us this much at any rate, that though the first has as
fine a country, if not a finer, than the latter, and more wealth in
the shape of flocks and herds upon it, yet after eighty years of
independence and self rule they have only now begun to lay the
foundations of an orderly and progressive liberty, and are far behind
what they might have been, if they had had the guiding hand of
the English from 1806 to the present time. When we regard the
present of Australia after barely forty years of existence, we may
form some notion what a development the Plate countries would
have now attained, with their immense extent and natural facility
for every species of colonisation, and their comparatively mild
climate. It is, however, bootless to regret the past ; in the
future all that is required for their stable development is that
there should be a truce to all petty and local jealousies, and that
those in authority should keep their hands clean from peculation.
Every Englishman landing on the soil enjoys all the rights of a
citizen of the Argentine Republic ; at the end of two years'
residence he may be naturalised, and after another four years may
become a member or representative for the province in which he
resides ; let these but do their duty for their new country, and as
they increase in numbers and rise in influence, and take part in its
active government, all will be well. What is wanted for the
progress of the country is immigration, always more immigration —
especially of agriculturists.]

Jan. 6th. — We sighted the squadron at 7 A.M. At 8.30 a.m.
arrived alongside and went on board the Bacchante at once ; shifted
clothes and went in to school. We are all as red as boiled lobsters,
the wind and the sun having caught all our faces very much while
we have been in Camp. The Admiral inspected the Tourmaline
yesterday, and is inspecting the Garysfort to-day. Ashore there
is a cricket-match going on between the officers of the detached
squadron and the English residents at Monte Video. Squadron

1881. BACK TO MONTE VIDEO. 29^

beat in the first innings (having got 82 runs against their 65), and
were doing still better in the second innings (having scored 127
runs) when time was called. A fine calm day, with a pleasant
cool breeze from the south-east, and the thermometer at 69°.

Jan. 1th. — Drill and school all the morning. Le Marchant, our
new sub-lieutenant, joined from the Forward this morning. In
the afternoon the Admiral gave a dance on board the flagship,
which was very jolly. It came on to blow towards the close of the
proceedings, which made it rather awkward for the ladies getting
down the ladder and off to the Swallow, which took them ashore.

Jan. 8th. — We had a little cricket-match of our own to-day, the
Bacchante against the South American squadron (Garnet, Sivallow,
Elk, and Forward) ; in the first innings they scored 55 runs, and in the
• second 20 ; the Bacchante scored 62 in the first innings, and in the
second got 15 and five wickets to fall. A very hot day, 85° in the sun ;
but it is midsummer here though winter in England. Big cake in
the gun-room, as it is Eddy's birthday, who is seventeen years old.

J cm. 9th. — At 5.30 A.M. got up steam for six knots, but did not
weigh till 9 A.M., as we waited for some deserters who are being
brought back down the river. When they arrived the nondescript
dress they were wearing in order to pass as gauchos did not become
them near so well as their bluejacket uniform. There is a regular
trade carried on here by a few rascals on shore, who induce seamen
to desert from the Queen's service when the worse for liquor, and
then hand them over to some foreign merchant service if a ship
happens to be sailing handy, and if not, they then betray the men
by taking the reward offered by the service for their apprehension,
and thus manage to get a double picking out of the geese ; the
reward, of course, being deducted out of the man's pay after he
rejoins. The Admiral has formed the squadron, now six ships, into
two columns, and the Garnet, Captain Loftus Jones (who was very
anxious to accompany the squadron as far as the Falkland Islands)
is now leading the lee-line in our old place, and we are therefore
astern of the Inconstant. The Bacchante's length makes her rather
unhandy, and she takes longer than a shorter ship to get her head
off the wind ; so this is a more difficult station for us to keep.
Had church as usual at 10.30 A.M. on the main deck. Fine
day, glad to be at sea again.

Jan. 10th. — Steaming along at five knots. In the afternoon
saw some seals raising their dog-like heads out of the water, and
one pair actually kissing each other. They are curious-looking

300

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE

1881

creatures, and evidently inquisitive. It is much colder to-day
(65°) ; it began to rain in the afternoon, and went on a nasty slow
downpour for the rest of the evening ; not much wind.

MONTE VIDEO TO THE FALKLANDS.

Jan. 11th. — Stopped steaming at 4 A.M., up screw at 5.15 A.M.,
made sail to a very light breeze from the north-east. We made
one or two knots an hour all the forenoon, but got into a thick fog
at 11 A.M., which lasted till 2.30 P.M., when the sun came out bright,
though it is getting much colder, with the thermometer 60°. The
Bacchante is sailing pretty well to-day, perhaps because all her boilers
are full, and thus bring her down a little by the head. Passed a
number of birds floating on the water. At 4 p.m. a light breeze
sprang up from the north-west, and we got five knots out of the
old ship. In the evening, after drill (which to-night was shifting
courses, which we did in six minutes shorter time than any other
ship), it came on squally, and so continued all through the night.
The passage between Monte Video and the Falklands is usually
made by keeping in close to the coast under Cape Corrientes, in
order to avoid the strong south-westerly winds that are said to
prevail further out; the last Flying Squadron, however, while
making the outer passage found north-westerly winds prevailing ;
perhaps we may do so too. At any rate we are keeping well out.

Jan. 12th. — At 3 A.M. very heavy squalls from the south-west ;
during the middle watch we have already taken in two reefs of

1881.

RIVER PLATE TO THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

301

MONTE VIDEO TO THE FALKLANDS.

Date. |

From Previous Noon. At Noon.

Temperature. |

Course.

Distance.

1
Long.

Sea.

r. i

Sail.

Steam.

Wind.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Jan.

° !

9S.

...

N.E. 3-4,
N.W.toW.3-1

35-3

55-56

S. 25 E.

128

S.E. 4-7,
variable 1 "2

36-59

54-49

S. 4 W.

E. 2-3, N.E.
3-4, E. 1-2

54-49

60 ;

S. 6 E.

114

S.E. 3-4,N. &
N.W. 2-3

40-33

54-43

S. 4 W.

...

N.W.3,W.by
S. 3 -6,8.^.7 -6

41-58

54-42

S. 22 E.

S.W. 7-8,
W.S.W. 6 7

43-3

54-16

S. 78 E.

W.S.W. 6-7,
S.W. 7-8

43-16

52-53

16 S.

N. 50 W.

109

S.W.byS.7-8,
S.W. 7-4

42-6

54-46

S. 39 W.

163

N.W. 7-8, W.
toW.byN.10-7

41-12

57-6

S. 34 E.

S.W. 7-9, S.
7-6

44-59

56-23

S. 3E.

S.W. 5-7

45-52

56-19

S. 34 W.

S.W. 7-8

46-20

56-57

S. 26 K.

S.W. 8-9

47-5

56-9

S. 80 W.

S. to W.S.W.
8 -3 -6

47-14

57 27

23 S.

S. 15 W.

158

W.S.W. 6-4

58-30

! 24

85
11185

39
1 198^

W.S.W. 4-6,
S.E. 2-3

1 Total distance..

.... 13

83 miles.

the topsails. It is quite light now at 4 A.M., and bitterly cold when
the mids turn out for drill at 6 A.M. (thermometer 53°). At 7.30
A.M. shook out the two reefs, but at 9 A.M. took them in again to a
very heavy squall. The Admiral made the signal to '' chase to wind-
ward ; " we were close-hauled and soon dropped astern, the Garnet
leading. There is a heavy swell coming up from the west, but the
sun is bright. Saw many large albatross on the water, who are
said to be unable to rise from the deck of a ship, and can only do
so from the top of a wave ; also many Cape pigeons in their
summer plumage, brown backs and white breasts ; with these were
lots of Mother Carey's chickens. Shook out reefs at 11 A.M., and
so continued till after evening quarters, when we were first ship

302

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1881.

again at shifting courses. The squadron was then put under
treble-reefed topsails for the night.

Jan. ISth. — Very cold and squally all the morning. At 0.30 A.M.
wore ship, and again after the dinner hour. All the forenoon under
treble-reefed topsails, and we are much to leeward of all the ships.
We tried to catch some albatross after evening quarters, and hooked
three but could not haul them in, so the old birds got away.

Ja7i. lUh. — Very cold. At sunrise there was a greasy-looking
bank of clouds in the west with a rainbow. Continued squally all
the forenoon but still bright, though sleet and rain fell at intervals.
At noon to-day we are just the same distance from the Falklands
as we were yesterday, 52:) miles. We are sailing right away to the

BKATING TO WINDWARD,

eastward, hoping for a shift of wind, and that it will draw round
to the southward, otherwise we shall probably have to make a
long leg on the port tack to the northward, in order to get to the
westward of the Falklands again. Thermometer 50°, and the
barometer falling. It was a windy sunset; in the first watch the
squalls were not so hard, and we thought that the wind might
change to south and south-east, and once, for a short time only, it
did blow from the south.

Jan. loth. — Chilly, cloudy morning. At 6.10 A.M. shook out a
reef; at 8 a.m. reefed again, and at 9.30 A.M. out third reef and wore
ship. The Admiral then made signal to " chase to windward."

1881. MONTE VIDEO TO THE FALKLANDS. 303

The noon position shows us to-day 120 miles to the east of our
noon position yesterday, whereas we wanted to go westward ; the
current has set us thirty-nine miles in twenty-four hours, and we
are no nearer the Falklands after all our labour. The wind is
steadier at midday, so the reefs are shaken out again, and we make
plain sail, and are then lying about west-north-west, heading up
for the. Plate. Squally in the afternoon ; took in one reef of the
topsails. After evening quarters, to keep ourselves warm, w^e had a
good game of "duckstones" on the quarter deck.

Jan. \^ih. — ^Very squally night, but towards morning the
weather became much finer, the wind having drawn somewhat to
the north, and it begins to feel warmer. At 10.30 wore just
before church, which we had afterwards on the main deck, and
after church made plain sail, and passing close to the Garnet ran
ahead of the other ships. We all took up our appointed stations
after evening quarters. At noon to-day we are just where we
were three days ago, and forty-five miles further off our destina-
tion than we were yesterday. It is rather disheartening, but
" capital training for young seamen." When close-hauled, under
plain sail, less royals, with the average strength of the wind five to
six, we go along with a steady heel from 10° to 15°. After sunset
the wind is increasing in force, though the moon comes out bright
and clear.

Jan. 17th. — At 3 a.m. took in the third reef of the topsails, and
soon after sunrise the weather came on thick with thunder and
much lightning and rain. At half-past six close-reefed to a heavy
squall from the north-west, which brought off a strong scent of
the shore, and burnt grass of the pampas, although they are over
400 miles distant. The force of the wind is now eight to ten, a
heavy sea is running and we are rolling a bit. After the squall
the wind shifted from the north-west to the south-west again, and
the afternoon was bright. We caught an albatross this afternoon,
measuring nine feet nine inches across the wings ; he was a small
one, we saw some much larger. It is very cold to-night. At noon
we were 439 miles from Cape Carysfort in the Falklands.

Jan. ISth. — At 10 A.M. wore ship, and shook out two reefs,
and after the dinner-hour wore again. The wind has fallen a bit,
and the sea, as we are not far from land and the wind is off shore,
seems to go down pretty quickly. At 3 P.M. tacked and shook out
another reef^ We had another good game of duckstones to keep
us warm. The Bacchante has got far to leeward of the Inconstant as

304 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

the flagship holds a better wind than the other ships of the squadron,
although the Garnet sticks to her pretty close. At 6.30 P.M. wore
a(yain, beins: unable to tack. In the first watch we shook out
the remaining reef, and made plain sail to a nice little breeze,
though still very cold, as the south-west wind is coming to us
straight up from the south pole ; if it is like this at midsummer,
what must it be in the winter ! We have been reading the account
of Lord Anson's doubling the Horn.

Jan. 19th. — We turned out for our usual gymnastics, but it was
pouring with rain. It cleared up at about 8 A.M. At noon we
are 328 miles from Cape Carysfort, and still heading south-east.
Wore ship at 6 P.M. Just before sunset a quantity of smoke, as of
a ship on fire, was seen on the horizon to windward of us, and the
Garnet beat up to it and found that it was a whaler boiUng her
blubber on deck. We have been under double-reefed topsails the
best part of the day, as it is still very squally.

We can't help feeling wonder at the invisible force of the wind
and a sense of mystery about its persistent antagonism to us thus

day after day :

" wind, a-blowing all day long,
wind, that sings so loud a song.
you that are so strong and cold,
blower, are you young or old ?
Are you a beast of field and tree,
Or just a stronger lad than me ?
We saw the diffei'ent things you did,
But always you yourself you hid."

Jan. 20th. — A very rough and boisterous night. At 2.15 A.M.
lost sight of the flagship. At 4.30 A.M. wore, and as soon as it was
light sighted the squadron. It was rainy and squally all the
morning, and though the thermometer was no lower than 50°, yet we
felt it rather nippy, and were glad to warm ourselves by a game of
" prisoner's base " after quarters. By noon we have made sixteen
miles since yesterday. At 7 P.M. lowered the topsails to a heavy
squall of rain and hail, and again at 11 P.M. We have been
reading Darwin's Adventures in the Beagle, off the south coast of
Patagonia, to-day ; having finished Magellan's own account of his
voyage through the Straits and round the world, in the Hakluyt
Society's publications. All of these last we have in our cabin, and
have found some very interesting, especially those about South
America.

Jan. 21st. — It has been a very squally night, force of the wind
eight to nine. We wore at 6.30 a.m., and then close-reefed the

1881. MONTE VIDEO TO THE FALKLANDS. 305

fore and main topsails, and furled mizen topsail. In the afternoon,
however, the wind fell a bit, and we were able to shake a reef out.
We are much to leeward of the rest of the squadron. Ther-
mometer 47°.

Jan. 22nd. — At 6 A.M. tacked, having shaken the reefs out in the
middle watch. We are now keeping station ; a beautiful, clear,
sunny day, not a cloud to be seen, and going through the water
nearly seven knots, quite a new sensation, though at noon we
had only made eighteen miles good since yesterday. Played at
" prisoner's base " in the evening after quarters, had a very good
game and got quite warm over it.

Jan. 2Srd. — Thick weather, foggy ; everything very damp.
Morninor service on the main deck. All the afternoon sfoino-

o o o

seven and a-half knots, ships in close order ; 150 miles run since
yesterday at noon. In the evening the wind died away. At
10 P.M. signal made to " get up steam." Thus at last terminates our
passage from Monte Video to the Falklands, which, on the pro-
gramme was estimated to occupy nine days, but which has taken
fifteen. We have had rather a rough passage, with strong head
winds and gales from south-west and west, and adverse currents
most of the way. Although the thermometer only registers 50°,
we find it very cold after the warmth of the tropics.

Jan. 2Uh. — At 2 A.M. down screw, furled sails and proceeded
under steam five knots. Very little wind, cloud}^ with glimpses of
the sun, but the Falklands are in sight. At 10 A.M. we passed
Cape Carysfort, on the East Falkland, and then the broad entrance
to Berkeley Sound, as we steamed slowly along to Port William.
The hills are rounded, bleak, bare, and brownish, like Newmarket
Heath ; the cliffs are white, though not of chalk, something like the
Isle of Thanet, but more desolate looking, though on some we
can see the herds of cattle grazing. Entered Stanley Harbour in
single column in line ahead, and anchored at 1.37 p.m. The Garnet
has gone the farthest towards the east up the harbour and is lying
off the town ; the Tourmaline and Cleoimira are anchored next ;
then the Bacchante, the flagship by the entrance, and the Carysfort
at the western end. The few houses that form the town fbuilt in
1853) look like an Irish village snugly nestling on the hill-side in
the distance. The wind here is blowing from the north, we wish
it had done so a little sooner ; the thermometer at noon is 45°. The
sun is shining bright. In the afternoon we got all the boats out.
All sorts of birds — albatross, gulls, divers, and a great many others —

VOL. I. X

306 CRJJl^E OF HM.S. BACGHANTK 1881.

were swarming round the ship. From where we lie the hill-sides
sloping down to the harbour seem all of monotonous brown grass.
On those to the south this is broken by two graves, which we
can distinguish through glasses, where a midshipman and another
officer are buried. They lost their way, and being overtaken by
night, died. Bishop Stirling — of the South American Missionary
Society, and who is related to Captain Stirling of the Atalanta and
has been here since 1869 — called on board the Bacchante. The work
of civilising the Fuegians on the mainland 400 miles away is pro-
gressing steadily, but very gradually. Three tribes inhabit the
archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. They are called, the Chonos, who
inhabit the north and east shores, and resemble the Patagonians in
being a tall race, chiefly living by hunting, but supplementing their
food with shell-fish and other marine animals ; the Yahgans, who
live on the shores of the Beagle channel and Southern islands, and
are a short, stunted race, subsisting almost entirely on the products
of the sea and birds ; and the Alakhoolips, who dwell in the Western
islands, and are very similar to the Yahgans. These last two tribes
lead a very degraded life, wandering about from place to place,
possess no houses, but construct shelter out of the branches of
trees, and build canoes of bark ; they wear very little clothing of
any kind. In stature they are short, the men averaging about
5 ft. 3 in. and the women about 5 ft. In the character of their skull
and skeleton they resemble the other wild native tribes of America,
but by isolation have assumed certain characters peculiar to
themselves. The population of the Fuegian islands appears to be
about 3,000. They used only to believe in an active maleficent
spirit and sorcery. Darwin said the strangest change he knew
was that being wrought among the Fuegians when they became
Christians, as they are one of the lowest types of humanity; he had
thought the civilisation of the Japanese the strangest, but he now
held this of the Fuegians to be stranger still. The Missionaries are
very slow to baptize natives on their merely professing Christianity :
they trust more to a gradual change. The Fuegians are not such
wreckers as they were, and they will now even exert themselves to
save the lives of strangers. The sealing-ships and the whalers,
who put into Beagle channel and other harbours, are at the bottom
of a great deal of the so-called savagery of the natives. European
sailors corrupt the women, and then when a row arises the husbands
and brothers of these are shot in the quarrel, and the consequence
is that retaliation is taken on the next ship of white men that

1881. THE FALKLAND ISLANDS. 307

comes within tlieir reach. Things, however, are not nearly so bad
as they were.

[The first European that set eyes on the Falkland Islands seems
to have been the Elizabethan navigator John Davis, August 12,
1592; they were also visited by Hawkins in 1594. They were
taken possession of by the English but never inhabited, till the
French in 1763 occupied them for four years and re-christened
them Les Malouines : Spain took them in 1767 and held them for
another four years, and then ceded them to the English in 1771.
Their only importance consisted in their being a convenient
station at which sailing ships engaged in the whale fisheries might
refit and revictual. There are two large and about 100 small
islands. East Falkland is 100 miles long and 60 broad, with an
area of over 3,000 square miles; West Falkland is about 90
miles long and 50 broad, with an area of 2,300 square miles : the
area of the 100 smaller islands is another 1,200 square miles. The
two larger islands are separated by Falkland Sound, which is
from nine to twelve miles in breadth. On each there are hills
over 1,700 feet high, in which copper and iron ores have been
found. The climate is temperate and very healthy ; the thermo-
meter is never higher than 65° and never lower than 30" even in
the depth of winter, and there is little ice or snow : although the
islands lie in such a southerly latitude, the moist westerly winds
keep the temperature pretty steady. They contain many excellent
ports, and the grass lands are extremely luxuriant (the tussock
grass grows over 10 feet in height) and well adapted for rearing wild
stock. Whales are plentiful round the coasts, and fish, especially
cod, swarm in the bays, and large trout are caught in the lakes and
rivers of the interior. Peat is abundant for fuel, and lies often
over 10 feet in thickness. The chief export of the islands is wool :
of this nearly 2,000,000 lbs., in value 68,000Z., were shipped in
1880. The total value of exports in that year was 88,000/. ;
that of the imports 33,000/. The total population of the islands
is only 1,583 : the local revenue 5,519/., and the expenditure 5,607/.
They cost the home Government about 500/. a year : and are a
Crown colony. The homeward trade from New Zealand goes round
Cape Horn and that from the Pacific passes through Magellan
Straits, the entrance to which is 310 miles to the west of them,
but being now chiefly in steam-vessels does not come near them.
What little importance they ever possessed for Imperial purposes
has now almost gone. By far the best thing for England to do

X 2

308

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1881.

with the Falklands would be to exchange them at once with
France for New Caledonia. That island is arid and bare, 220
miles long by 30 broad, and therefore possesses an area very nearly
the same as that of the Falklands. Since 1854 it has been
occupied by the French as a penal settlement : it has become a
source of perpetual danger and nuisance to Australia. These
islands on the contrary if so employed would injure no neighbours ;
the climate is infinitely better than that of New Caledonia, and the
situation and capacities of the islands would make them almost an
ideal penal settlement, if France requires such. The exchange
would benefit both nations : and the amottr-propre of France might
be flattered by thus again entering on the possession of Les
Malouines. The small sum that might be claimed as compensation
to the few settlers here would be a cheap price to pay for the
riddance once for all of our Australian fellow-countrymen from a
perpetual and increasing menace to their peaceful prosperity.]

FALKLANDS TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Jan. 2oth. — At 9.30 A.M. manned and armed boats, and after-
wards squadron was at sail drill. Some of the senior officers, who
were on board this morning, said that this last part of the cruise was
the worst knocking about they had ever had. A few officers went
across the island shooting. At 1 P.M. the Swallow came in from
Monte Video, with a telegram for the Admiral. It had Jirrived there
before we were out of sight, but was carried about in the pocket
of the person to whom it was delivered, for three or four days.
Had it been despatched at once, we should have been spared our
pleasant excursion into these regions. For at 2 P.M. the Admiral
.hoisted the "blue Peter," and fired a gun, and made the signal
" Prepare for sea immediately ; Squadron to go to Cape of Good
Hope with all despatch." The steam pinnace was at once sent,

1881.

SOUTH AMERICA TO SOUTH AFEICA.

FALKLANDS TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Date.

From Pkevious Noon.

At Noon.

Temperatuhe.

Course.

Distance.

Wind.

Lat.

Long.

Sea.

Air.

Sail.

Steam.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon

6 p.m.

Jan.

...

N.E. to N.
2-6

...

N. 55 E.

N.W. 3-6

50-58

56-5

N. 54 E.

103

N.W. byN.
6, South 1

...

Nil

N. 53 E.

136

S.E. 1-3

48-24

50 41

N. 47 E.

S.W. 4-1,

N.KW. 1

46-55

48-20

SOS.

N. 62 E.

152

N.AV. 3-6

45-42

44-46

N. 56 E,

141

N.N.W.
to N.W. by

Nil

Feb.

N. 6-7

N. 82 E.

152

...

KW. 7-4

43-56

38-20

5'3

N. 63 E.

228

N.W. by W. 7

42-12

33-42

N. 71 E.

213

...

W. & N.W.

6-7

41-2

29-14

N. 86 E.

156

...

N.N.W. 6-4,
N.toN.N.E.2

40-52

25-48

N. 89 E.

119

N.N.E. 5,
N.W. 5-6,
North 5-7

...

6S.

N. 85^30 E.

186

N.W. 6-7,
N.E.6, N.W.

& N. 5-4

N. 83 E.

114

N.W. by N.,
N.W. 2-4

...

S. 85 E.

208

...

N.W. 3-5,

N.E. 4-5

40-37

10-54

N. 88 E.

135

N.E. 4-5.

N.W. & S.W.

3-4

...

N. 82 E.

155

S.W. 4-5,

N.W. 4-6

40-7

3-15
E.

N. 81 E.

185

S.W. 6-4

39-36

1-1

N. 84 E.

...

175

S.W. 3-4,

N.W. 3-4

39-17

4-46

13S.

K 83 E.

182

N.N.W. 3,
N.E. byN. 2%

38-57

8-39

N. 71 E.

151

E. & S.E. 1-2

38-9

11-42

N. 64 K

...

147

S.E. 3-4 &
Calm

37-6

14-30

K 46 E.

231
49

W. & N.W.
2-4

34-25

17-55

Total

distance ..

2045

1620

... 3,665 mile

310 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

and brought the shooting party back from Sparrow Cove. They
had abeady killed seventeen geese with five guns, and other sundries
(plover, hare, teal), and were wending their way back when the
search party found them. They had come across the cairn erected to
an unfortunate naval officer, who had gone on a similar expedition,
and being benighted, had been found dead with his geese around
him. The Governor, Mr. Kerr (whom we met last year in Barbados
where he was then Attorney-General), with Mr. Collins, the colonial
secretary, came on board ; all the captains and many officers had
accepted invitations to dine with him this evening, and all the
resources of these out-of-the-way islands have been exerted to the
utmost for many weeks, to furnish a worthy welcome to the
Detached Squadron. But the " exigencies of the public service "
forbid, and in our unavoidable absence we leave the Garnet and
Swallow to support the honour of the British Navy. Captain
Packe, a Norfolk gentleman, whom we have met out hunting at
Sandringham, and who is one of the proprietors here, had arranged
a visit to the Penguin Rookery, one of the curiosities of the place,
which also will have to be abandoned. But of course it can't be
helped. Six hours after the receipt of the telegram, all were on
board, steam up, ships under way, and the squadron left Stanley
Harbour at 7.30 P.M. The whole of the carefully-arranged
programme of our cruise has been, in one moment, completely
broken up and destroyed ; good-bye now to any chance of our
passing the Magellan Straits, or of seeing those other parts
of South America whose natural and political history has
occupied so large a share of our reading during the past twelve
months — the Andes, Cuzco, and Titicaca. Gone are all hopes
we had of seeing Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo and Quito, and the
Gallapagos, as well as all chances of visiting Vancouver's Island
and British Columbia in the spring, or the Sandwich Islands or
aught else, in the Pacific. But doubtless it is all for the best. We
are off instead to make a " demonstration " at the Cape, 3,410 miles
away, or, possibly, sent to earn some " medals " or distinctions by
active service there.

** We doubt not of a fair and lucky "war,
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
This dangerous treason lurking in our way
To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now
But every rub is smoothed on our way.
Then forth, dear countrymen : let us deliver
Our puissance into the hand of God,
Putting it straight in expedition.
Cheerly to sea! the signs of war advance."

Henry V. Act 2, Sc. ii.

1881. FALKLANDS TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 311

Jan. 26^A. — In the middle watch, at 1 A.M., stopped engines and
banked fires, made plain sail, and at 2 A.M. up screw. There was a
light wind from the north-west, and we were able to make between
three and four knots under sail ; with sail and screw we were going
seven. At dawn the sky was hazy. A thick fog came on in the
afternoon, and towards evening the wind all died away, and it
fell a flat calm. The fog was so dense we could see nothing ; every
half hour all through the melancholy night the flagship fired a
gun, and the Baccliante, as leader of the lee line, repeated the
signal three minutes after.

Jan. ^Ith. — Thick fog, denser (if anything) than last night ;
everything is saturated with moisture, damp and cold, and not a
breath of wind. During the morning a gun-signal from the flag-
ship directed us to " get up steam," so at 11 A.M. down screw. At
2.30 P.M. we heard a steam-whistle right astern ; the fog was still
very thick, and out of it came the Inconstant, and the other three
ships. We then shortened and furled sails, and commenced steam-
ing between six and seven knots, and so went groping along in the
darkness in single column in line ahead. At 11 p.m. it cleared
somewhat, but all through the night half-hour guns were still
firing.

Jan. 28th. — Towards morning, as a slight wind sprang up from the
southward, we made plain sail ; at 5.30 A.M. the fog cleared off, and
we all see each other again; at 8 A.M. we stopped steaming and got
the screw up. The screw and banjo frame weigh about twenty
tons, and this has to be raised nearly thirty feet from the water,
till close up under the " strong back " on the poop. In order to do
this two seven-inch pendants or hawsers are rove over the rollers
in the iron frame (" strong back") that arches over the screw well ;
at the end of each of these pendants a sixfold purchase is secured,
the hauling part of which is then manned on either side of the
deck by the ship's company. It requires the labour of every man
in the ship, hauling his full power on these to raise the screw, and
therefore, when the operation is performed in the night watches, it
compels every one, when the lower deck is cleared, to rouse out
from his short four hours' sleep. When there is a slight rolling or
pitching of the ship, more especially if the night be dark, those who
descend into the screw well, with a rope round the body, in order
to loosen the wedges that hold the screw frame in position, have
also the difficulties and risk of their duty increased. After we had
hoisted screw we rounded in and set the starboard stunsails. After

312 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 3881.

general quarters the Admiral formed the fleet into single column
in line abreast. In this formation we continued and made about
5*8 knots all day. The untrained men and the midshipmen were
exercised in the afternoon at firing from off the poop with small
arms (rifles and pistols) at a target towed astern. This is in
preparation for landing a Naval Brigade on our arrival in South
Africa.

Jail. 2dih. — The wind has fallen very light, so in the middle
watch, at 2.30 A.M., rove the screw purchase and down screw, and
commenced steaming six knots. Shortened and furled sails at
8 A.M. A fine calm morning, not quite so cold as it was yesterday ;
thermometer 55°. Proceeding the same as yesterday. At 1.40
P.M. made plain sail and set port stunsails. Many albatross flying
round the ship ; some very big ones. We tried to catch these
with pieces of salt pork at the end of lines, but the birds made
off with the bait generally, and left the hook bare. We hooked
one after evening quarters, however, and were hauling him in, only
as we were going too fast, seven or eight knots, he too came off.
We burn seven cwt. of coal per hour to go at our present speed,
and could continue for twent3^-five days at the same rate. The
Tourmaline, the Cleojmtra, and the Carysfort, could continue for
seventeen and nineteen da3^s only. The flagship is so far better at
sailing than the rest of the squadron, that she has been keeping
up under sail alone, with the other four ships under steam. The
Admiral signalled " Annul keeping station, keep within two miles
of the flagship." The Inconstant is a capital sailer; in the last
Flying Squadron she was able to hold her own against several of
the old frigates. She carries a far larger area of canvas, in pro-
portion to her tonnage, than any other of the four ships now
sailing with her. And as to beating to windward, none of the
little ships, least of all the Bacchante, can do it at all. At steam-
ing, however, we get the pull over her, as, owing to her engines
having been built before the latest improvements were designed,
she consumes a far greater amount of coal than any other of the four
ships. With compound engines she would be the finest cruiser in
the English fleet.

Jan. SOth. — At 9 A.M. we took in a reef of the topsails. It was
thick and hazy, with rain and squalls from the north-west. We
are still steaming, and so are all the others, except the flagship,
and average seven knots all day. Usual service on the main
deck.

1881. SOUTH AMERICA TO SOUTH AFRICA. 313

Jan. 31s^. — At 9 A.M. up screw, a nasty morning, raining and
blowing. There is a fresh breeze, and we are going eight knots.
Towards evening the wind began to fall, and at 8 P.M. it was a
calm. The rain came down in torrents, deluging and darkening
everything, especially from 9 P.M. to 4 A.M. the next morning. At
9 P.M. we were taken aback, and so were all the other ships. The
wind, however, gradually went round by the south to north and
west again. We lost sight of the flagship at 7.30 P.M., during a
rain squall, and occasionally of the other ships. A dreary night.

Feb. \st. — In the middle watch thick mist came on, which at 6 A.M.
became fog; flagship firing half-hour guns, and the other ships
tootling their fleet numbers on their fog-horns till 7.30 A.M., when
it cleared off, and the wind drew aft and the sun shone out, and we
got five knots out of the Bacchante. At 11 A.M. the wind came on
the quarter, and we set the port stunsails, and as the wind freshened
at 4 P.M. we were rushing along nearly twelve knots, which is quite
exhilarating after what we have lately experienced, with a bright
sun, and over a dark-blue sea flecked white with foam. This is the
best day's work the Bacchante has yet done. This afternoon we
have accomplished more than one-quarter of the distance across to
the Cape. We have been, too, second best ship in sailing all day
till this evening, wh(m we and the flagship shortened sail to wait
for the other three ships.

Feh. 2nd. — A fine day and a nice fresh breeze ; with all plain sail,
the wind right aft, we go between nine and ten knots, but we are
rolling a bit, and there is more swell. At noon we have made the
best run we have ever made under sail, 228 miles. The tempera-
ture of the sea is 59°, four or five degrees warmer than the air.

Feb. Srd. — Wind still favourable, and we are making eight knots
during the whole of a pleasant English summer's day ; it feels much
warmer, thermometer 62° at noon. Exercised landing parties, as at
present we do not know for what cause we are going to '' demon-
strate," but it is generally supposed it is either against the Basutos
or Zulus. Boots and gaiters, belts and water-bottles, blankets, &c.,
were inspected ; and accoutred in these the men, in heavy march-
ing order, were taught how to skirmish, &c., preparatory to their
being landed in the field as part of a Naval Brigade, if required.
In the evening the Cleopatra and the Carysfort were each close
alongside us ; we three were all much ahead of the flagship, who
was waiting astern for the Tourmaline. After dinner Bacchante's
band went on the poop and played " Good-night, all's well," for the

314 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

two vessels to hear. A fine starlight night, and the young moon was
bright for an hour after sunset. The nights, hitherto, since leaving
the Falklands, have been dark, without moon ; now, of course, every
succeeding night we shall have a fuller enjoyment of her services.

Feb. 4!th. — Wind falling light, but bright and pleasant all the
morning, and we are sailing along with the two little ships, one on
each side of us, and the Inconstant is coming up astern with the
Tourmaline. General quarters and landing parties again this fore-
noon. Before the dinner-hour got the screw down, and at 2.30
P.M. proceeded under steam, what wind there was being from the
north, with the sky dark and cloudy. At evening drill shifted
topsails, and were first ship of squadron in the evolution by ten
minutes ; fog came on, and the wind all fell at 7 P.M., so furled sails.

Feb. 5th. — At 3.15 A.M. made sail to port stunsails and got the
screw up again at 6.15 A.M. An hour afterwards we lost sight of all
the ships in the thickest and most unpleasant fog we have had,
the wind from the north-west, and the sea apparently getting up.
There are two currents, one warm and the other cold, that meet
hereabouts, the former from the north and the latter from the
south, and thus generate the fog, which is marked on the chart as
always prevailing on this patch for twelve out of the twenty-eight
days in February. With the fog comes the rain. The flagship
fires the half-hour gun, and we and the other ships sound our fleet
numbers in succession on the hand fog-horn (as we are under sail),
so many short or long blasts every ten minutes. Every ship sounds
first "List of the Navy" sign, and then her own number; so as she
comes along there would be heard first, one short, then one long
(three times the length of the short), and then another short ; which
three blasts signify '' List of the Navy" ; then comes her number,
which for the Bacchante is four shorts, tut, tut, tut, tut ; and for the
Carysfort, five such; for the Cleo]patra two, for the Tourmaline
three, and for the Inconstant one. So there is not any very great
difference, and one has to keep one's ears open when this is done
every ten minutes. The fog-horn gives but a feeble and melancholy
sound, which cannot be heard at any great distance, and as we
stand listening for the faint sounds and peering into the fog, we see
looming up one or other of the little ships, which again disappears
into the gloom ; and so we grope our way along.

Feb. Qth. — Thick fog and very wet, with a heavy swell coming
up from the south-west, which we hope is the precursor of the
wind coming up thence to lift the fog ; the barometer keeps very

1881. FALKLANDS TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 315

high, though the wind has hitherto been from the north. Usual
service on the main deck. Iq the evening, at 8.30 p.m., the moon
tried to pierce the fog, which does not apparently extend upwarsd
from the sea surface for any great distance, for at midnight, and
several times for a few minutes, the stars are visible overhead,
though all around the ship is veiled in densest darkness ; still the
fog doesn't break, and if you stand on deck for ten minutes you
get quite drenched, as it precipitates itself upon you in a very
continuous and fine rain.

Feh. ^th. — Still a thick fog, and heard some of the ships quite
^lose to us, but could not make out which. Suddenly, at 1.30 P.M.,
i^ all cleared off, and we saw, three miles distant on the port
quarter, the Inconstant, Tourmaline, and Cleopatra, sailing along
almost in line, and the Carysfort abeam between us and them.
Admiral then made the " general recall " and signal to " take up
our appointed stations." Got sights by artificial horizon, one in
oil and one in quicksilver. But we are not clear of the fog yet,
for at 7.30 P.M. down it came again very thick, and all through
the night the signal-gun was firing as we passed through banks of
it which lasted for an hour or so at a time.

Feh. 8th. — In the middle watch, at 2 A.M., the fog lifted, and we
caught sight of the ships again. The morning dawned clear of
fog, but the sky is overcast, and we are sailing along over seven
knots, the Bacchante as guide of the fleet, and the three little
ships under steam to keep up. At 4 P.M. took up our station on
the starboard beam of the flagship and an hour afterwards observed
Gough Island, north-east, 4,000 odd feet high and uninhabited.
To-day there are a lot of Cape hens flying round the ship and
swarms of dark brown and black birds on the water : the chief
engineer caught one with a hook and line astern. It was a fine
specimen with black bill ; underneath his glossy thick plumage,
which was dark brown on the surface, he had a very thick white
fluffy down to protect him against the cold. This down however
was swarming with lice. After evening quarters had a good game
of "prisoner's base." It was foggy at intervals all through the
night, and the flagship's gun kept booming away.

Feh. 9th.— At 2.30 A.M. the fog lifted, got a sight of the flagship,
and at 5 A.M. rove screw purchase and down screw ; we were then
going about three knots. Soon afterwards a breeze sprang up from
the south, and we go along close-hauled between six and seven
knots, but as the screw is down we use steam as well. At noon

316 CEUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

we were 1,300 miles from the Cape. It has been much colder
to-day (51°) than it had been for some days.

Feb. 10th. — At 7 A.M, up screw, as wind is right aft, and set stun-
sails both sides. Though we make nine knots on au average all day
yet we are the " dummy " of the squadron, as the Bacchante never
sails so w^ell compared with the other ships, with the wind right
aft, as she does when it is on the quarter. The sun came out
occasionally, but there were many rain squalls, one of which, at
about noon, carried away the flagship's mizen topgallant mast just
above the cap. Eead Duke of Ai'gyll's paper on flight of birds,
and afterwards observed how some that were following the ship,
and which look like small albatross, float on the wind for a con-
siderable length of time with their wings outspread and motion-
less, just as the flying-fish do. They float thus even when they
rise or descend, turn or wheel : using all the time only the muscles
of the tail to propel themselves, in the same way as a fish in the
water does his tail. Hence we can understand how they can
traverse hundreds of miles down the wind with comparatively
slight muscular exertion or fatigue. All birds of passage take but
an occasional flap once every hour or so, and thus are enabled
to accomplish long distances, whereas those birds which make
short and frequent motions of the wings, like partridges, can fly
comparatively only short distances.

Feb. llih. — At 8.30 A.M. down screw and commenced steaming
an hour afterwards, wind dying away, but heavy swell remaining
from yesterday's wind, under which we continue for the rest of the
passage as we have all now enough coal to carry us into Simon's
Bay. General quarters during the forenoon, and in the afternoon,
in addition to the usual sail drill, all the landing party and am-
bulance (with the doctor, who is very fond of giving instructions
to us under the poop during the smoking hour on the use of
the tourniquet and bandages), fell in, fully equipped for landing.
Beautiful moonlight night, scarcely any wind.

Feb. 12th. — Almost a dead calm, steaming seven knots. In the
afternoon we were, however, able to make sail to port stunsails.
At 4.30 P.M., George Dunn, the sailmaker, died of softening of the
brain ; he had been insensible since 7 A.M., and on the sick list for
three days. Watched the sun go down from the poop, with Venus,
Jupiter and Saturn, in conjunction and apparently equally distant
from each other in a line inclined at an angle of 30° to the horizon ;
directly the sun had set they shone out brightly.

1881. SOUTH AMERICA TO SOUTH AFRICA. 317

Feb. ISth. — At 10 A.M. stopped engines, lowered royals, up courses,
in trysails, and hove to for George Dunn's funeral : a bright, sunny
day, not a cloud to be seen, and nearly a dead calm. Sunday
morning service on the main deck immediately afterwards, at which
the hymns and the psalms were sung even more heartily than
usual. In the afternoon furled sails ; the wind from the east, what
little there is, and clouds coming up from that quarter at sunset.
The Tourmaline was taken in tow by the flagship.

Feh. \Uh. — At 5.30 A.M. the Tourmaline's towing hawser parted,
which delayed squadron for two hours, while they made fast two
hawsers, this time. Heavy swell from the east and south-east (the
effect of winds that have been prevalent here for some days),
ship pitching, but very irregularly : sometimes much, and then for
many minutes not at all. The wind drew round during the after-
noon to the south, and we were able to set fore and aft sail. It
has been raining on and off all day : the night is cloudy, but light,
as the moon is now near her full.

Feh. Ihth. — We have been steaming between six and seven knots
all the night, and at 9 A.M. lit fires in two more boilers, and in-
creased our speed to nine knots, and altered course, heading up for
Simon's Bay, from which at noon we are 250 miles distant. During
the forenoon prepared for action aloft. It is very pleasant getting
into the warm weather once more ; to-day the thermometer is up
to 70^ The wind drew aft durinsj the afternoon, so after eveninsf
quarters made sail to port stunsails ; the swell too has quite sub-
sided during the night. In the afternoon the Tourmaline, which
had been cast off by the flagship, had to stop in order to repair
machinery, her engines having broken down. In the 4,000
miles of sea which we have traversed between the Falklands and
the Cape of Good Hope, we have not seen a single sail, nor any
*signs of life, except some sea birds: and more than once we felt
a strange weird feeling when we looked south, and fancied there
was no more land down there, over the liquid hills and valleys of
rolling water, but only the icy homes of birds and sprites. As we
seemed to be sailing along on " the sloping edge of the globe,"
we could imagine that if we went far enough down there we should
slip off the edge into space.

Feh. IQth. — A glorious morning, with blue sea, small clouds,
sunshine and warmth. At noon sighted the African hills north ot
Table Mountain; the flagship's compasses are out, so we have
been steering too far north ; we at once altered course. Furled sails

318

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1881.

at 1.30 P.M. At 4 P.M. rounded the Cape Point, and stood up for
Simon's Bay, where at 6.5 P.M. we let go the anchor with splash,
noise, and rattle of chain. There had been a small lottery sweep-
stakes as to the hour of our letting the anchor go : each subscriber
drew a particular half hour, and as we crept up to our berth there
was some excitement between the owner of 5 1- to 6 and Eddy, who
had drawn 6 to Q^. He won by a short five minutes. The Incon-
stant has taken up the moorings close in shore : the little ships
form the next line, and the Bacchante is furthest out. As we opened
the point near the Roman Rocks we made out with interest from
among the masts of the ships lying here, those of H.M.'s troopship
Tamar (Captain T. N. Royse), which has just returned from Natal.
We learn afterwards that it was on account of the revolt of the
Transvaal Boers that we had come to " demonstrate." Some of our
Dutch fellow-subjects ashore, as the fleet came up the bay, hoisted
the Dutch ensign on their houses in Kalk Bay, in token of their
good wishes to the Boers. Tourmaline came in and anchored at
8.30 P.M. Glad to get newspapers and mails from England, though
the news from Ireland is very bad.

AT SIMON'S BAY.

r>ATE.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon.

P.M. j

Feb.

N.W. 2-3

S.S.E. 1-2

S.S.E. 2-6

20 S.

S.E. 7-9

S.E. 7-9-2

Calm&KW.l

N.W. 1

S.S.E- 1-7

Feh. 17th. — A north-west wind, clouds over all the hills, and rain.
At 11 A.M. began coaling and continued at it till 7 p.m. ; what with
the rain and coal-dust, a fearful mess everywhere. The squadron is
coaling and provisioning so as to be ready as soon as possible for
whatever is required of us. Landed in the afternoon and walked
up Red Hill; found most of the heather's bloom past, but here
and there some fine scarlet specimens still out. Geraniums grow

timmmihmMMi

1881. SIMON'S BAY TO CAPE TOWN. 319

wild all over the place. Afterwards walked through Simon's Town
and out through the cemetery.

Feh. 18th. — Coaling on board Bacchante continued all day and
right up into the middle watch the next night, when we finished
at 4 A.M., having taken in 431 tons. A fine day and quite warm.
The Admiral and captains drove over to Cape Town to call on
Sir Hercules Robinson, the Governor. At about 4 p.m. the wind
began to blow from the south-east, and the Muisenberg Hill put on
its white cap, which is formed by the cold wind from the sea
coming in contact with the warmer air on the sides of the hill,
whose moisture is thus precipitated and forms the woolly -looking
cloudwreath.

Feb. Idth. — At 8 a.m. hoisted court-martial jack and fired a gun.
At 9.80 A.M. court-martial assembled on board Bacchante and sat
till 2.15 P.M. A south-east gale blowing. At 3.45 p.m. our starboard
cable parted while veering, and the ship drifted astern until
brought up by the port anchor. Admiral made signal " Get up
steam immediately and shift berth." At 5.30 P.M. we weighed port
anchor, steamed up to our old berth, let it go again, veered to
eight shackles and let go the starboard sheet anchor under foot, as
the rest of the squadron had two anchors down.

Feh. 20th. — Splendid bright sunshine, but south-east gale with
squalls still blowing, often up to 10. Celebrated Holy Communion
for the first time this year. The Princess Louise of AVales's
birthday.

Feb. 21st. — Wind lulled towards early morning. At 8 A.M.
divers went down to get hold of the end of the starboard cable
that had snapped on the 19th ; when secured it was found that the
link which had broken had been badly forged. At half-past twelve
we left the ship in order to visit Cape Town. It was a beautiful
fine day, and after landing in the dockyard quite privately, we
mounted an American-built " spider " or light four-wheeled carriage
open all round but with a canopy to shade off the sun ; harnessed
to this were four white horses which the Governor had sent over
from Cape Town and which were driven by a Malay coachman ;
the luggage followed in another cart. The road at first mounts
through Simon's Town, and after passing in front of the commodore's
house then runs for some distance skirting the rocky shore and along
side the sands and sea. It is littered pretty plentifully with the
old iron shoes that have been cast by horses. At one place where
there were extensive sands on which were lying large numbers of

320 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

crimson jelly-fish and huge sticks of seaweed, the driver turned
off from the road all of a sudden and took his horses some distance
through the sea for a freshener ; the wheels on the near side were
half under water as we drove along on the borders of the surf. At
Farmer Peck's, a small inn about nine miles from Simon's Bay, he
wanted to stop. " The Shepherd of Salisbury plain " is the sign^
and verses in English, Dutch and Latin, promise " Good beds and
no fleas. Wholesome food and small fees." But not needing either
we made the best of our way on to Kalk Bay where we drove through
two or three villages to which in the summer-time the townsfolk of
Cape Town send their children for sea-bathing. There were lots of
tubs of fish drying in the sun and spread upon the beach. It is
the centre of the salt-fish trade of the Malays and the smell is
always pretty strong. Soon afterwards we turned up northward
round the spurs of the Muisenberg to Wynberg, ten miles from
Cape Town, from which it is reached by a short railway, the first laid
in the colony. On our left hand we now have a mountainous chain,
dark and wooded, which is the outlying spur of the Table Mountain ;
on our right, but fifty miles off, are the peaks of the flat- topped
Hottentot Holland mountains.

At Wynberg the character of the road alters, but it is still dry
and dusty. We pass beneath groves of Scotch fir-trees, all w^hose
lower stems are covered with the red dust from the road. The effect
on first looking at them is as if the ruddy hues of sunset were
here held in suspension all da.y long. The Malay driver pulled up
at a small inn on the right-hand side of the road to give his horses
a few minutes' rest and a drink of water while he was refreshing
himself; he had been boosy all the way since leaving Simon's Town,
and had whisked round corners with many a narrow shave. On
leaving Wynberg his nerves were strung for greater efforts, and
though the road was wide he steered full tilt up against a Cape
waggon that was drawn up and standing motionless on one side
of the road, and thus smashed the fore-wheel of the carriage we
were in, but drove on quite regardless with the broken spokes to
Government House, where we arrived all right at 4 p.m.

Sir Hercules Bobinson and his A.D.C. Major St. John, and
private secretary, Lieut. Bower KN., together with Mr. Newton, the
assistant secretary, welcomed us, and afterwards introduced us to
Lady Robinson. The doors of all the rooms are ornamented wdth
paintings of Cape flowers which the Miss Freres did. We saw
their brother at Gibraltar, but Sir Bartle we have not seen since

1881. CAPE TOWN. 321

the year before last at Abergeldie. " Ask any colonist haphazard —
Africander or English — his opinion of Sir Bartle Frere, and in
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred you will be told that he was
conscientious, able, far-seeing, magnanimous, truthful, and loyal.
From all men in South Africa who have studied the subject you
will get the same reply, that he was a Christian gentleman believing
in the missionary and in evangelisation implicitly, yet one who
allowed common-sense and his plain duty to dominate his mind
and his actions." At dinner that evening there were General
Leycester Smyth, commanding the forces, and his A.D.C., Captain
Colville : Mr. Sprigg (the Prime Minister), and Colonel Bruce (of
the 91st Regiment).

Feb. 22nd. — Spent the morning chiefly in Government House
garden, where there are some fine old trees and plenty of shade,
and then walked across into the Botanic Garden, which was at one
time part of the former, and is separated from it by a splendid
avenue of oaks nearly a mile long, planted in the Dutch days of
the colony. On either side of this is a watercourse, now dry, but
at one time filled with a running stream brought from the springs
on Table Mountain. The prettiest thing in the garden is the view
of the mountain towering up like a black massive wall and covered
on its flat top with a white fleecy cloud which is now being formed
there by the south-easter.

In the afternoon some of the party went out for a ride along
the sands, and others walked down Adderley Street, a broad
dusty road, in which are the chief stores and shops of Cape Town,
with a landing pier at the sea-end. Nearly all the necessaries of
every-day life are imported, and the colonists still look to Europe
in a large measure for their food supply. Wheat and butter and
cheese, tea, flour, beer, spirits, tinned vegetables, tinned meat and
fish are imported in incredible quantities. Everything in Cape
Town is fearfully dear. Eggs are threepence each, oranges, which
grow in the place, are twopence each. A few of the larger store-
keepers, English and German (who have no middlemen to employ
in the shape of merchants), have in former days accumulated large
fortunes, with a profit, it is stated, of 100 per cent, on everything
they sold : it is different with the smaller shopkeepers. Wages
for shop assistants are from 101. to 201. per month. But trade
and business are reported to have within the last years enormously
fallen off, and to be rapidly and steadily diminishing. Instead of
giving full employment for a fast line of fourteen large steamers, each

VOL. 1. Y

822 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

over 3,000 tons, six are now found to be ample. The net earnings
of tbe Union Steamship Company have dropped from 156,000/.
to 56,000/. and the company pays no dividend. In 1882 the
export and import trade of all South Africa amounted to over
14,000,000/. ; in 1884 to only 11,000,000/., showing a decline of 23
per cent., and a consequent equivalent decline in the customs
dues, the chief source of revenue. Here, as in South America,
in a land teeming with cattle, most of the milk is imported in
tins from Norway and Switzerland; most of the cheese also
comes from Europe. Transport difficulties in a large and sparsely
populated country are pleaded here as an explanation. It is more
economical to import from Europe than to cart down from up
country.

We then went up on to Signal Hill, whence we got a good view of
Table Bay with Robben Island in the offing, and the long brownish
red line of the Hottentot hills beyond, and of Cape Town itself
lying all along the valley. The wide expanse of white houses with
flat roofs is broken only by the square tower of the English cathe-
dral and the older domed tower of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Walked on then to see the large new reservoir which is being
built at the foot of Table Mountain for the waterworks. The
town (with its 33,000 inhabitants, not quite the size of Cambridge)
is execrably supplied with water, and the whole place is more
like a dust-heap than anything else. Whichever way the wind
blows — either from the south-east during the summer half of
the year, November to April, or from the north-west during the
winter half, May to October — clouds of dust are kept perpetu-
ally on the move, charged very often with germs of various dis-
eases, from one part of the town to the other. [Small-pox, fever,
and diphtheria are readily propagated thus, and all three are
very frequent. Those who advocate the system of no drainage
which now prevails here urge, however, that it is the most healthy
arrangement possible, as the dust covers over any ill thing that
may be exposed for a short time in the open air, and thus makes
the whole city one large Moule's earth-closet. One reason
perhaps for acquiescence in this state of things is that the finances
of the Cape Colony are in the most serious condition; the
Cape Town municipality is said to be nearly bankrupt, and
some of the banks are in a bad way. At the chief print-
shop we purchased likenesses of the two rebel Boer leaders,
Joubert and Kruger, for which there seems a very large sale.

1881. CAPE POLITICS. 323

Two out of every three of the European population here are Dutch ;
all the land is held by Dutch farmers, and it is only natural, however
much Englishmen may regret it, that they should feel anxious and
uneasy at the war now being waged against their kindred in the
Transvaal. A few years ago this was one of the most loyal of the
British colonies : and still they express loyalty to " the Queen," but
great dissatisfaction with *' the Home Government." They are
averse to having anything to do with an English parliament in
which only the inhabitants of the British Isles are represented ;
as they look to their own Cape parliament alone. A responsible
Government has been given to the colony, but the decisions
of its representatives have been continually overruled, so that the
difficulties in the way of any Cape ministry really carrying out a
policy of its own, or even having one or doing anything at all, have
been much increased : the Houses of xissembly feel that they
have been merely playing at being rulers. An imperial policy of
alternate jingoism and peace at any price, colonial internecine wars,
party disputes in the colony (however reasonable each of these
may be in itself), have all tended to ruin the stability of political
and commercial life. They have had war upon war, trouble upon
trouble, an endless tangle of Basuto, Zulu, Kaffir complications ; and
on the top of these difficulties the question of confederation was
stirred, and the country was stumped by semi-official emissaries
from England, whose real drift and aim appear not to have been
understood. A confederation here would have to embrace far more
heterogeneous materials than in the West Indies, in Canada, or
in Australia. Union of interests and of nationality is the only
basis for easy confederation ; and at present the interests of various
parts even of Cape Colony (of the Eastern and Western Provinces),
those of Natal, of Basutoland, of Zululand, of the two Dutch Re-
publics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, appear to the
respective inhabitants dissimilar and antagonistic. In the Eastern
Provinces of Cape Colony the English element is stronger than
the Dutch, which again is in the ascendency in the Western
Provinces. Port Elizabeth and Graham's Town dissent from Cape
Town on almost all subjects, and revolt from the supposed social
and political supremacy of the capital. Further division would
seem more natural than confederation at present. Griqualand
West and the Diamond Fields desire a local government of their
own, separate from the Cape Parliament ; the Eastern Provinces
might very reasonably (it would seem to an outsider) form them-

Y 2

324 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

selves into another colony separate from the Western. Such local
independence might conduce in the long run to greater union ; for
friction between the Dutch and English races would thus be
lessened, not increased, by each colony managing its own local
affairs, and a common policy regarding other than local matters
would be more likely to be adopted. It has been so in Canada
and in Australia (where Victoria and Queensland have both been
separated from New South Wales years ago, to their mutual
advantage and development), and possibly might be so in South
Africa. When the railways are completed and the resources of
the various parts of South Africa are developed, then there may be
union : to force it on now from the outside is simply impossible,
however conducive to the real interests of South Africa such union
would be if spontaneous. A South African Dutch Republic of the
United States of South Africa is, it is true, the ambition of many,
and this is so far a healthy sign of the growth of a national feeling.
Africanders naturally are as keen for the recognition of their
nationality as Canadians and Australians are ; but the growth of
such national feeling need not in the least of necessity imply that
Africanders might not be as proud of being part and parcel of the
British Empire as Scotchmen, or Canadians, as Welshmen, or
Australians. By running counter to that feeling, however, we render
them as hostile as the Irish have been rendered by similar shortsight-
edness. Among.^t all, the prevailing feeling is one of uncertainty
and apprehension. Eighteen months ago the Dutch and English lived
side by side in friendship, connected in many cases not only by
business relations but by family ties. But this Transvaal war has
wrought up the feeling of race animosities to a point never
approached before in the history of South Africa. The Dutch
aie now determined to assert their power and to attain supremacy;
the English minority (rightly or wrongly) resent bitterly the
position in which they have been placed by the action of the
Home Government. Neighbours, formerly living on friendly
terms, now view each other with suspicion and aversion. Even
the most hopeful men, who, contrary to the general opinion, hold
that there is a possibility of the present difficulties being peacefully
surmounted, yet admit that the situation is extremely dangerous,
and that the utmost care will be requisite to avert an explosion,
involving not improbably the loss of the whole of South Africa to
the British Crown. In many parts of the country Africander doctrines
are preached from the Dutch pulpit ; just as Bishop Gray too set up

1881. CAPE POLITICS. 326

his Church of South Africa independent of the Church of England ;
and thus Calvinist and Anglican alike do but witness to the same
Africander feeling. The majority of the Dutch up to the present
time have been content for the most part to be represented by
English members in the House of Assembly, but a new spirit is now
coming over them, and at the next general election they certainly
have it in their power, if they have the will, to return a majority
of Dutch members. A Dutch ministry would then take office,
which might be an improvement upon the existing state of things,
inasmuch as the responsibility of governing the country would then
devolve upon those who had already in a great measure the power
of directing the policy.^ It is possible the Dutch may hold views
as to the best mode of advancing their interests which some in
England may think mistaken. The Dutch as a rule are slow
cautious, economical and very averse to change. Their platform
embraces such measures as protection to Cape industries, the re-
striction of immigration, and the raising of the money qualification
for the franchise. If these are the views of the majority it is
surely better that they should be carried into effect under the
responsibilities of office and under the restraints imposed by an
active and intelligent minority, than that they should be dictated
to such a minority by an irresponsible majority sitting on the
Opposition benches. A large proportion of the older and wealthier
Dutch colonists are thoroughly loyal to England, and fully appre-
ciate the benefits of belonging to the British Empire, but of
course it is not in human nature that they should not feel strongly
drawn towards their relatives in the two Dutch Kepublics of the
Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The race struggle in
South Africa is full of interest, theoretical and practical, for all
who believe in Greater Britain. The blending of the two races is
the only way in which the Cape may take her share in such a
consummation. Patience and firm rule may yet turn the Cape
into a colony as loyal and prosperous in its measure as Canada
or Australia ; but, on the other hand, a heated and eager assertion
of British supremacy may easily drive them to join their kith and
kindred under the flag of Holland, and eventually perhaps of the
German Empire ; and Great Britain is debarred from even thinking
of the possibility of attempting their reconquest, having declared

^ In the present Parliament (1884) of the 74memhers, 32 are pure Dutch, 13 are
of the Upington or Government party (which Mr. Sprigg the late Premier has now
joined), which is also supported by the Dutch, and only 29 are of the Soanlen or
Opposition party.

328 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

repeatedly that she will never again endeavour to coerce a
colony to remain beneath her flag, especially one with a constitu-
tional and representative government, which wishes to become
independent.]

Coming home through the town we admired some of the old
Dutch mansions; they are fine and massively built, with heavy
dormer windows and little panes, but the roofs are flat. They are
chiefly now inhabited by the Malays and other coloured people that
make up the bulk of the population of Cape Town. The Dutch
and Europeans have migrated to the suburbs. In olden days many
Anglo-Indians used to come here from India for a short sojourn,
on account of the dryness of the atmosphere and the cold nights,
and occupied these houses for a time, and reaped more benefit from
so doing than from the longer voyage to England : since the Suez
Canal has been opened the Cape is never seen by them at all. To
dinner that evening came the Chief Justice, Sir Henry de Villiers,
Mr. Pearson (treasurer-general) and Mr. Leonard (the attorney-
general). The broad verandah outside the house opening into the
garden made a cool and pleasant retreat after the heat of the day.
Feb. 2Srd. — Went with Lady Eobinson to a small bazaar for
some Dutch church ; the band of the 91st Regiment had been
sent to play there. Played lawn-tennis afterwards in the garden
with Lieutenant Weigall, R.A., whose brother was in the Britannia
with us ; then walked up the stream which comes down from Table
Mountain, and where, at about two miles out of the town, the
Malay washerwomen ply their trade. The scanty stream is full
of boulders, and what there is of it is gathered into small pools
at the foot of these, in which the clothes are placed and pounded
and then hung on the tops of bushes and shrubs to dry. The
whole place seemed reeking with soapsuds and filth, and it looked
as if most of the clothes would come away from the process
dirtier than they went. To dinner came Mr. Laing (Minister for
Public Works), and Mr. and Mrs. Southey ; the latter gentleman
was late Lieut.-Govemor of Griqualand West.

Feb. 2U/i. — In the morning Prince Louis came up with Mr.
Caulfield and stayed to lunch. In the afternoon, from four to six,
Lady Robinson had a reception to which about 650 people came,
and stood about in the house and verandahs and under the trees in
the garden listening to the band of the 91st Regiment. To dinner
came Mr. Merriman (leader of the Opposition), Mr. Saul Solomon,
one of the two members for Cape Town and the very able proprietor

1881. ROBBEN ISLAND AND TABLE MOUNTAIN. 327

of the Cafe Argus, the leading paper in South Africa, and general
friend of the natives, and Mr. Ayling.

Ft'h. 2oth. — Some of the party went over with Mr. Southey at
7 A.M. to shoot on Robben Island, ten miles off shore in Table Bay.
It was very hot and tiring walking over the loose sand which is
the only thing on the island except the lunatic asylum and the
leper establishment. Leprosy, in which the limbs decay and are
eaten away piecemeal by incurable sores, is always prevalent in
Cape Town : it was brought from the East by the Dutch slaves
from their East Indian colonies. The rabbits were very wild and
there were a few snakes and penguins about. A sea-bird of a rare
sort was shot by George ; it has been prepared at the museum in
Cape Town and sent home. We had lunch in a house belonging to
Dr. Biccard, of the lunatic asylum, in which there are about 130
patients. At about 5 P.M. we went on board the steamer and
came back to Cape Town at 7 P.M. Others went up Table Mountain,
starting with Colonel Owen of the Royal Artillery by the 7 A.M.
train to Wynberg, eight and a quarter miles out. This is the
oldest and shortest line in the colony : original shareholders receive
30 per cent, on their money. Arrived at the station we met Mr.
Gamble, the engineer of the New Waterworks, and drove with
him through Constantia to the back or south side of Table
Mountain. We saw some of the celebrated vineyards here : the
vines were brought over by the Huguenot refugees in 1685, and
the grapes are as good as any in the world ; but most of the wine is
very carelessly made. The grapes are picked with earthy particles
on them, and the wine is pressed from grapes of all conditions
and kinds, and doctored alike with spirit and water. Some good
wine is made at Constantia from grapes dried almost like raisins ;
but it is more a liqueur than a wine, and not more than 36,000
gallons of this are made annually. The Cape Colony produces a
larger amount of wine than any other British possession — in fact
more than all the rest put together. In the year 1875 the quantity
of wine produced was returned as 4,455,000 gallons (about the
quantity now produced by Australia), and of spirit distilled from
wine, 1,067,000 gallons. Since that time the produce has certainly
increased in quantity, and cannot be less than 6,000,000 gallons,
and another million and a quarter gallons of grape spirit. The
export of wine from the Cape during 1883 was, however, only
6,353 gallons of Constantia, valued at 2,37lZ,, and 115,499 gallons of
ordinary wine, valued at 21,474/. The soil and chmate are peculiarly

328 CllUlSE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

fitted for the cultivation of wine : but the introduction of foreign
capital and enterprise is wanted : and native labour here is far
dearer than present wages in the south of Europe. Chemical
analysis shows that in every constituent for the production of wine
the Cape grape-juice is peculiarly and exceptionally rich, but care
in the preparation and better methods of cultivation are wanted.
To this end the Cape Government have recently introduced an
expert from one of the best wine-growing stations in Germany.

We began to climb Table Mountain on foot at A.M. ; the path
at first is easily traceable over heather and stones ; but it was
rather hot work, as the ascent was steep and there was no shade.
We arrived at the '* camp" (the place where the engineer and his
men had encamped when surveying the mountain), and the cross
road over the stream at noon, and there halted by the spring and
lunched. The water of this stream and many others will be utilised
in the New Waterworks. On Table Mountain there is deposited a
very large amount of moisture from clouds and rain, which at
present is wasted as far as the town at its foot is concerned ; this
it is proposed now to utilise, and it is estimated that the supply
will be sufficient also for the villages of Wynberg and Constantia,
through both of which the pipes will pass. From here on up the
kloof to the top takes about one hour and is also a steep climb.
The top itself is an immense and absolutely bare plateau of rock
weather-worn, and on the north side, precipitous. It is 3,502 feet
above the sea, or about the same height as Snowdon. Standing
on Maclear's cairn which marks the loftiest point, there was a fine
view all round ; looking to the south we saw False Bay, the
Muisenberg, the Hottentot hills and the crawling and wrinkled
sea ; turning round and looking northwards there was a curious
effect of Avhite fog. This was hanging like so much white fluffy
cotton-wool all over Cape Town, but under the lee of Robben
Island there was a great rent in the white fluff. W^e then walked
to the kloof and came straight down the steep and stony path
which leads thence to Cape Town, arriving at the bottom at 6 P.M.
By this time all the fog had disappeared off Table Bay; a few
white clouds however were still hanging round the Lion's Head.
The Bacchante arrived and anchored in Table Bay at 7.30 P.M.
having left Simon's Bay at noon. She did the fifty-three miles
round under steam.

Feb. 2Qth. — After breakfast went to see the Museum and the
Grey Library : a fine building, at the end of the Botanic Gardens,

1881.

IN THE CAPE TOWN LIBEAEY.

329

with handsome pillared portico. In the Library are some very fine
old books, especially early histories of the Cape Colony, which were
given by Sir George Grey when he left the Cape for New Zealand.
Doctor Hahn, the librarian, who has spent many years among the
various native races of South Africa, showed us many photographs
of the various tribes of Bushmen, Hottentots, and Kaffirs, and also
told us in conversation many most interesting things.

AT TABLE BAY.

Date.

Wind.

Temperatvre.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

6 P.M.

Noon

6 p.m.

Feb.

Variable 1-2

27S.

N.W. 2-1, S.E. andS. 7-5

S.E. 2*5 and variable

March

Variable 1

Variable 1-2

N.W. 1-2

S.E. 2-4

S. 3-8

6S.

S. 7-9

S. 7-8

[South Africa rises in a series of broad terraces or steps from the
sea. On the coast the uplands average not more than 200 feet,
fifty miles inland comes the broad terrace of the Lange Berge,
then 100 miles from the sea the great ridge of the Black
Mountains, averaging 3,000 feet in height. Beyond them extends
the table-land of the Karroo (or " dry " land), which is supposed to
be the bed of a large ancient lake. Further inland this rises again
into another plateau by the Orange River, until it dies away into
the great table-land of the interior of South Africa, at an average
height above the sea of 4,000 feet. There is a marked difference
between the climate of the east and west coasts ; the winter of the
west is wet and inclement, that of the east cold, dry, and bracing ;
the summer of the west is dry and salubrious, that of the east
wet and stormy. South Africa thus includes a variety of climates
and totally dissimilar tracts of country ; so also does it of races.
Roughly speaking, there are no Negroes south of the equator. The
whole of this portion of Africa, from the equator and the Victoria

330 CRQISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

Nile downwards to the Cape, is inhabited by three perfectly
distinct indigenous races, (1) the Kaffirs, (2) the Hottentots, who
occupy the extreme south and south-west corner of the continent,
and (3) the Bushmen.

1. " Kaffir " is the Arabic for " heathen," and is the term of
reproach applied by the Arabs, who held the coast before the
arrival of the Portuguese in 1497, to the small section of the
great family of the Bantu tribes with whom they came in contact.
This great Bantu race numbers one-quarter of the population of
Africa, and have been estimated to be at least eighteen millions in
all. They are a grey slatey-coloured people, and were impelled from
the north and north-eastern parts of the continent by the pressure
caused by the inroads of the Hamites from Western Asia. All
their traditions point to the north as their home ; there their chief
great divinity is supposed to reside, and to the north are turned
the faces of their dead when laid in the grave. The wave of
population has continually rolled southwards from the central parts
of Africa which are now again also apparently over-crowded. The
Bantu clans were preceded in their migrations by the Hottentots,
and these again by the Bushmen.

The Bantu tribes may be divided into three great groups ;
(a) Kaffirs, (b) Betschuanas, and (c) Damaras.

(a) Those on the eastern coast, or Kaffirs proper, extend from the
Zambesi southward to Cape Colony. They are tall, dark brown,
active, and well made, inclining to a pastoral life more than to
agriculture. They live mainly on animal food, and their clans are
stronger, more spirited and intelligent than those of the other two
groups. Their herds are their all in all to each clan ; and cattle-
stealing has grown so universal as to have acquired a certain
political significance. The land is of course all " nationalised : "
that is to say it belongs to the tribe or clan, and cannot be parted
with by the chief as his own private property ; private property in
the soil is not recognised beyond actual possession. Every one sows
his corn wherever he can find a convenient spot. All the wealth of
a Kaffir is counted in cattle and wives ; a woman is equivalent to
ten head of cattle. When the Kaffir has secured ten head of cattle
he exchanges them for a wife, of whom he may have any number if
he can afford to keep them. Each wife must have a separate hut. The
marriage laws are very rigid ; adultery is visited with death ; no
man may marry without the chief's permission, and never a blood
relative. To this fact and to the total absence of alcoholic drinks

1881. NATIVE RACES— KAFFIRS. 331

among them — in Ketchwayo's reign the sale of rum was prohibited
— their splendid physique is doubtless in a measure due. These
eastern coast Kaffirs embrace the Zulus, Pondos, Swazis, Tembus,
Matabeles, Fingus (i.e. ''helpless people in search of service" aa
inferior clan, conquered by the Zulus seventy years ago), and
others. As a rule, however, they all possess great physical endur-
ance, and offer strong passive resistance to all injurious influences.
The younger Kaffir men are described as restless, turbulent and
boastful, and very reckless ; they have a strong love of liberty and
independence, but are readily obedient to their chiefs ; and gener-
ally speaking they are good-natured. They have plenty of sagacity
and acute wits, and are capable also of patient attention ; are frugal
and temperate, and observe much decorum and cleanliness. It is
stated that any one who falls unarmed into the hands of the enemy
is never put to death, and that they have a proverb, " We must not
let even our enemies die of hunger." The coast Kaffir tribes are far
more highly organised than the central ones. Each village or kraal
contains forty or fifty families under a head-man elected by the
villagers. These village chiefs are under a tribal chief, and form
his councillors : a leopard's skin is the insignia of rank. The clan
chieftainship is hereditary, but generally the son whose mother is
of the richest and oldest family is nominated by his father to
the succession ; the two eldest sons are always debarred from such
right. Bribery and corrupt practices are extremely prevalent in
the administration of justice ; in commercial transactions they are
honourable and trustworthy wherever they have not been deceived
by whites. The chiefs revenue consists of contributions of cattle,
first-fruits, and fines. With the Zulus death is the common
punishment for all offences.

The religious beliefs are much the same in all three groups of
the Bantu tribes : they play round fetichism and supernatural spirits,
who are in some mysterious way connected with the spirits of dead
ancestors, charms, and sorcery. The Kaffirs circumcise all their
male children and shave their heads, leaving a ring of hair on the
boys and a tuft on the girls ; many of the women are tattooed.
They reckon time by the moon ; they have no written characters,
though their language appears to be the remains of something far
beyond that of any savage nation. Every child has a name given
him at birth and another at adult age, usually some honourable title
according to prowess or ability. Blacksmiths, who smelt copper
and iron for ornament, or for axes, hoes, and spears, are held in great

332 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

honour, thougli this art is quite unknown among the interior tribes.
Their basket-work is exceedingly good ; and pails, earthenware
bowls, knives of ivory for scraping the skin, snuff-boxes, and other
articles made by hand are abundant.

The profession of doctor is hereditary ; there are several kinds ;
" smelling doctors " for detecting witches ; " handling doctors " who
rub and give medicine, cup, and set limbs ; and simple " physic
doctors." The office of "rain-maker" is also hereditary; so is that
of the seer and prophet, of whom there are large numbers ; but
apparently there are no priests, though sacrifices are offered to
the spirits to avert evil, to procure blessings, and as thank-offerings.
There is a great national feast of first-fruits in January, and one
to the spirit of the king's father each year. They have a great
many opinions regarding uncleanness resembling those of the
ancient Egyptians (not eating wild pigs, hippopotami, crocodiles,
and certain beasts and birds), and they swear by the life of the
king or by the manes of their forefathers.

When a chief dies his household utensils are burnt or broken
and buried with his body, which is generally interred in a sitting
posture. The Zuhis sometimes burn and sometimes bury the
bodies of the dead ; others are left exposed in the bush to be
devoured by the hyaena, which is held to be a sacred animal.

Dreams are ascribed to spirits ; the departed spirits of their
fathers and of their great chiefs are believed to exercise an
influence over the living, and sometimes to appear in the form of
serpents to their descendants : serpents also are sacred animals.
Ancestral spirits are regaled with sacrifices — cattle, goats, beer
and snuff — and they are invited to eat ; they occupy the same
relative position in the other world as they did in this. All failure
or success in war is ascribed to the humour of the spirit of the
chiefs ancestor. But generally the attention of the spirits is
limited to their own family, and of a chief to his own kraal or clan.
They are very fond of dances, which are dramatic and generally
accompanied by songs, some of them so old that the words are not
understood by the natives themselves ; they are sometimes sung in
parts, the women sitting on the ground moaning and wailing, and
the men dancing away, shaking the earth with their stamping and
wheeling in armed groups from side to side brandishing assegais.

The coast Kaffirs at the beginning of this century were divided
into patriarchally governed clans, like the Scotch Highlanders a
century before them, or like our own Saxon forefathers when they

1881. NAIIVE RACES— ZULUS. 333

came over from Germany and established the various Saxon tribes-in
this island. They had no great paramount over-lord till Chaka
arose in 1813. He marshalled and disciplined his own clan with
such success, that in a few years all the south-eastern coast from the
Limpopo to Cape Colony owned his supremacy. Every male belonged
to one or other of the three classes into which his army was divided •
these were veterans over forty, men, and lads, the first two classes
distinguished by rings on their heads. About one-half the available
force, nearly 50,000 warriors, was kept in constant readiness for
battle. Each regiment consisted of from six to eight hundred men
commanded by a captain, lieutenant, and two sub-lieutenants.
Soldiers were kept apart from their wives and children, and only
such were allowed to marry as the king chose ; they received no pay,
but were fed by him during active service. Each barrack town was
garrisoned by a regiment and fortified with palisades, and the king
used to pass a month in each. The soldiers were armed with assegais
four feet long, which they could aim well with up to sixty paces, but
not beyond. Chaka added a short stout spear for close combat, and
a club. Their shields of ox-hide were as long as the men were tall.
After twenty-five years' sway Chaka was murdered by his brother,
who in his turn was murdered by Dingaan, another brother.
Dingaan was succeeded by Panda as paramount over-lord of the
coast Kaffirs, and he was succeeded by his son, Ketchwayo.

Several of Chaka's under-lords caught his spirit, and by force of
character, ability, and adoption of his military methods, discipline,
and drill, set off with their clans and carved out for themselves
over-lordships over other Bantu tribes. Moselikatsi, for instance,
a Zulu clan chief, whose tribe originally inhabited what is now
Natal, after being reduced to submission by Chaka, became one of
his generals, crossed the Drakenberg and occupied what is now the
Transvaal, dispossessing the unwarlike Betschuanas, and establish-
ing an independent over-lordship there. When the Boers defeated
Moselikatsi, the Betschuanas hailed them as deliverers. He, how-
ever, marched north with his Zulus and ultimately settled in the
hilly country midway between the Limpopo and the Zambesi,
forming there the Matabele kingdom, over which his successor
Lo-Benguela, proclaimed king in 1870, still rules, and keeps up
the traditions of the founder of this over-lordship; where every
able-bodied man is a soldier and bound by strictest fealty to his
chief, to whom he owes his life, his cattle, and his all.

Another of Chaka's generals went north along the eastern coast.

334 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881

and reduced all the clans between the Limpopo and Zambesi to his
sway. This is the Zalu over-lordship of Gasa, which extends from
Belagoa Bay coastwise to the borders of the Matabele kingdom.

(b) The second group of the Bantus or Kaffirs are those of the
interior or plateau. These subsist rather on a vegetable diet and
are of a softer and more passive temperament than their kindred
on the eastern coast. The Basutos and Betschuanas belono: to
this group. The latter are the most numerous and widespread of
the plateau tribes. The larger tribes contain 15,000 people, and are
just on the border-line between nomads and agriculturists. Each
tribe is named after a certain animal, which it reveres and never
eats. The tribes are divided into numerous clans, each under an
hereditary head-man ; his authority is nominally absolute, but the
under-chiefs of towns or villages sit in parliament with him, and freely
offer their opinion. The Betschuanas have regular social grades
in each tribe, the well-born, the rich, and the low-born, or vassals.
All their land is common property, and the chief cannot alienate
it. They are strong and well built physically, but, as a rule, are
lazy and cowardly, though some ar^ said to show more intelligence
than the ordinary European peasant. Like all weaker races, the
Betschuanas are more crafty than the eastern coast Kaffirs. They
have little regard for truth and honour, and are able to embellish
a story excellently well. They practise circumcision ; their priests
are doctors and manage the weather, and also understand the
influence of the stars, prepare charms, and superintend the
burying of the dead — who are placed in the grave in a sitting
posture, looking towards the north. In their poorly- watered country
rain seems the giver of all good. The spirits of their ancestors
are connected in some mysterious way with an invisible being.
They are fond of dancing, at which the women and children clap
hands, but do not sing ; and the men use a small reed-pipe.
Naturally they are of a kindly though cunning disposition, and
readily acquire the language of the whites. Some of them are
industrious, persevering and sober : they are fond of gardening, and
pay more attention to agriculture than the eastern-coast Kaffirs ;
they carefully fence their fields, and their dwellings are kept very
neat. They have never been known to attack Dutch or English,
but only defend themselves, when attacked. Their warfare consists
in treacherousl}'^ surprising their enemy, and secretly carrying off
his cattle, rather than in open and courageous attack, or in any
regular combat ; they steal freely from the missionaries. Their

1881. BASUTOS, BETSCHUANAS, DAMAKAS. 335

clans stretch away inland north of the Orange River, and over the
west coast plateau north of Namaqualand. There the Kaffirs of
the plateau are generally held to form the third group of the
Damara Kaffirs, who have for the last 150 years been isolated as
well from their Central as from their Eastern kith.

(c) The Damaras are divided into two principal clans, which have
dwindled away into a number of smaller families, each containing
from 100 to 400 people, in a state of continual mutual hostility.
Few kraals contain more than five or six huts and 100 cattle ; and
every man with twenty cows considers himself independent. They
live in nomadic communities, roaming over an extent of 29,000
square miles, a territory nearly as large as Scotland, and on the whole
more fertile than Namaqu aland ; but parts are very hilly, and the
rest consists of wide plains and thorny jungle : the days are some-
times exceedingly hot, the nights piercing cold. The whole land
is the common property of the nation, but the first party arriving at
any place has a right to remain there as long as they please. The
cattle are the common property of the clan — food as well as land is
thus " nationalised." The authority of the chiefs is sacerdotal as
well as political. Kinship goes through the mother, to whose caste
the children belong ; but the eldest son of the favourite wife of the
chief succeeds him : wives often leave their husbands and choose
new ones : each builds her own hut. The chief blesses the oxen,
and his daughter is priestess, and sprinkles them with holy water
every morning. She takes care of the holy fire, which is always
kept alight in or near the chiefs hut. Particular trees or shrubs
are sacred to each family, and particular animals or cattle with
certain marks on their bodies. Prayers are offered to the dead :
they are buried in a sitting posture, with the chin resting on the
knees, and sewn up in an ox-hide, with their faces towards the north ;
and a heap of stones is reared over the grave. Frequent presenta-
tions of provisions are made to the deceased. Their Great Father is
buried in several places, at all of which he is prayed to. They have
great faith in amulets and witchcraft, but without the more strenuous
and elaborate arrangements of the eastern-coast Kaffirs. Circum-
cision is practised, and the boys' heads are almost entirely shaved :
they are fond of dances, many of which are mimicry of animals,
time to which is kept by music and chorus, hand-clapping, and
striking the ground. They are generally tall, upright, and well
made, but not over strong, of a pale slate colour, are very impulsive,
submissive like dogs, and court slavery, but lazy, heartless, and cruel.

336 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

Very few die natural deaths : when useless and worn-out they are
killed by their relatives. Milk, usually sour, is the main article of
subsistence : they eat also flesh of oxen and game on festival occa-
sions, but usually live on vegetables, fruits, and seeds. The ladies
wear iron bracelets round their wrists and ankles ; their iron beads
of the size of a potato, frequently weighing 30 lbs., compel them to
walk slowly, which is one of the signs of high birth in Damaraland.
2. The Hottentots (estimated now to be about 50,000 only) are
separated from all these Bantu s, with whom they have no material
resemblances, by the great waterless Kalahari Desert. They are of
a pale yellow-brown colour, with bodies of medium size and small
hands and feet : and are great runners. In disposition they are
light-hearted, apathetic and very indolent, but are very fond of un-
couth dances, imitative of the habits of animals, apes, and bees,
which they perform to a monotonous chant. Primogeniture pre-
vails, and chieftainship is hereditary; they live in loose federations
of village communities or kraals of 200 or 400 people, each under a
village captain ; with the huts in a circle round the cattlefold. All
the men of the kraal with the chieftain sit in council for justice.
Some of them are very honest, faithful, and truthful ; they are easily
led by plausible speeches, but stubborn when threatened, and have
very strong memories. They believe in a future life, and that the
spirit of the dead haunts the place where it left the body. The
Namaquas adore a being supposed to exist in every grave ; they
venerate their ancestors, and regard the moon with awe, judging
that it has the disposal of the weather : they measure time also by
lunar months, and have great faith in witchcraft and amulets, but
possess no idols, temples, or altars. Their seers and prophets, how-
ever, officiate at marriages and funerals, and there are doctors in each
kraal for men and cattle ; who use herbs and medicaments as well as
charms. They tattoo themselves, and name their children after wild
beasts. The Hottentots have been divided into three groups, con-
sisting of (a) those dwelling in Cape Colony, (b) the Koranas on the
north of the Orange River, and (c) the Namaqua, whose domain em-
braces the western portion of South Africa. Namaqualand may be
divided into three longitudinal sections. The first, the seaboard,
is sandy and waterless, of a volcanic origin, rough and sterile, hardly
giving life to a few stunted pines between the crags, but with a
gradually increasing elevation, with coarse grass and shrubs. The
second division rising eastward, is hilly and very rugged ; copper
abounds in every direction, the supply of this metal being almost

1881. NATIVE RACES -HOTTENTOTS. 33T

inexhaustible. Occasional trees may be found here, and brush
wood is comparatively abundant. In the third or more eastern
portion of Namaqualand the downs become more wooded and
better covered with grass. Where the plateau is at an average
elevation of 3,000 feet above the sea, it is healthy but cold in the
winter, till it reaches on the extreme east the Kalahari Desert.
"Among the hills bordering on the table-land there are fertile
tracts, contrasting strangely with the surrounding sterility.
Nature seems to unfold in tliese oases all her charm and loveliness.
Deep basins of crystal water are formed among the mighty dark-
red rocks of fantastic shape, encircled by ferns and other beautiful
plants. So happily does the brook run over its rocky bed into the
valley, and so homelike is the murmur, that one might fancy one's
self back into some quiet nook in the Harz or Black Forest."

Angra Pequena (or ''little bay"), 150 miles north of the Orange
River, is the only entrance into Central Namaqualand from the
coast : there is abundance of fish there. There is also a German
trading station, whence the route starts inland to the German
mission of Bethany on the plateau, where Dr. Hahn's father was
for many years missionary.^ The Namaquas are warlike and

1 In the month of May, 1883, Lord Derby received at the Colonial Office a depu-
tation of South African merchants, and said that "he could state in half a dozen
words what the actual position of aifairs was as regards Angra Pequena. We had
not claimed the place itself as British territory ; hut we had claimed a sort of
general right to exclude foreign Powers from that coast up to the Portuguese
territory. The German Government had made various inquiries into the nature of
our claims, but so far as the correspondence had yet gone he did not understand that
Germany had actually disputed those claims. He apprehended that the question
was not so much one of any intention on the part of the German Government to set
up a colony there as an inquiry upon their part whether we claim the possession of
the coast, and in that case whether we will give security to the Germans trading or
settling there, and, if we are either unable'or unwilling to give them security, whether
we shall object to the German Government doing it themselves. With regard to Cape
Colony, he understood that some months ago the question was put to them by the
Colonial Office whether they were prepared to take over Angra Pequena and become
responsible for the maintenance of order there, and of course to pay the cost. At
that time they thought that their expenses were quite as great as they could con-
veniently bear, and refused to have anything to do with the matter. Within the
last few days he had put the question to them by telegraph, asking them whether in
the event of our determining to defend the claim of the British Crown to this
territoiy they would be prepared to take it over and to bear the cost and take the
responsibility of its administration. As the deputation were aware, there was a
Ministerial crisis in South Africa, and the new Government was only just formed,
and consequently they had asked for a little time to answer the question. He might
say that he did not share the apprehensions which some people felt as to the desire
of the German Government to establish colonies in various parts of the world.
Colonization was not the German policy j they believed that concentration was the
secret of their strength, and they were not at all disposed to weaken themselves by
occupying distant possessions in various parts of the world." A few months later the
German Government, having waited nearly a year and a half for an answer to a
definite question and getting no reply, formally annexed the territory, and all Damara-

VOL. I. Z

338 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE, 1881.

nomad, the purest both in blood and language of the Hottentots ;
the most mongrel in both respects ai'e the Hottentots of Cape
Colony. The Hottentots, as well as the Bantu tribes, would seem
to be the ruined monuments of a greater past ; but the Bushmen
are a primaeval people, arrested by adverse circumstances at a very
low stage of development.

3. The Bushmen formerly reached north to the Zambesi, and
even beyond, but are now little more than nomads in the Kalahari
Desert, though some of them are held in servitude by the Betschu-
anas on its eastern borders. They have little or nothing in common
with the Hottentot race, and are scarcely regarded by Hottentots
or Bantus as human beings at all. They are probably an entirely
distinct race from either, and represent all that has survived of a
great primaeval African race, broken into fragments and driven into
corners by the successive floods of immigration of stronger races —
Hottentot, Bantu, and further north Negro ; just as a corresponding
fate has overtaken other primaeval pigmy races, the Lapps in
Europe, the Ainos, Veddahs, and Andamans in Asia, and the Eskimo
and Fuegians in America. They are thin, wiry and dwarfish ; their
average height is about four feet, their skin a yellowish brown, their
heads large, and eyes small ; they possess a " monkey-like mobility of
countenance,with a wild, uncertain, cunning look ;" they have neither
cattle nor goats, only a few half-wild dogs. Apparently no tribal
arrangements exist, ^although from ten to fifty live together in
universal liberty, fraternity, and equality ; they have no words for
any numbers beyond two or three. They trap game, and use arrows
for shooting the antelope ; sling at birds, and make fire by twirling
a stick between the hands, the point moving in a hollowed place
in another horizontal stick. Their women dig up casual roots

land and Namaqualand (both exclusively occupied by German missionaries), right up
to the edge of the Kalahari Desert on the east, and from the mouth of the Orange
River, the boundary of the Cape C'olony, seven hundred miles northward to Cape
Frio, a territory nearly equal in area to the whole of British South Africa. The
Germans have taken the country in hand with good heart, although not unmindful
of the enormous difficulties that lie in their way. Their motto is "What has been
done can be done " ; and they point to Colorado, to Atacama, and to the sandy
steppes of Asia and America which have been converted into fertile tracts, as justi-
fying their faith. At Hamburg the capabilities of the country are highly estimated :
iron and copper ore have long been known to exist in great quantities, and important
discoveries give hopes that coal also may be not far off. A well-furnished expedition
has been fitted out to explore thoroughly the whole coast from the Orange River
upward to the northern frontier, and then to study the mineralogy of the country ;
this exploration will be extended inland in all directions, and will require time. But
only thus can we learn what advantages Germany may draw from this colony ; and
time, too, will show what effect wiU result therefrom to the neighbouring and
friendly Dutch republics of the Free State and the Transvaal.

1881. NATIVE RACES— BUSHMEN. 339

found in the desert, and gather insects for food : the more putrid
and pungent the odour of the food is, the better they like it : they
have voracious appetites, and can also go for a great length of time
without eating. " They dwell in clefts of the valleys, in caves of
the earth, and in the rocks ; " sometimes they dig a hole in the earth
three feet deep, and roof it in with reeds. The chief characteristic
of their language is a succession of clicks and clucking sounds like
monkey chatter, practically unpronounceable by the European
tongue, and uttered by drawing in the breath ; a great deal of mean-
ing is conveyed by the gestures accompanying these, by the grins the
speakers make, or the energy or emphasis they give them in utter-
ance. Some of these clicks were adopted by the Hottentots, the
next invading race from the north, and some also by the Bantu clans,
the third and last invading race. Whereas the Bushmen have six
such clicks, the Hottentots have four, and the Kaffirs only three.

Fetichism is the form their religious instincts take. To witchcraft
all evils and diseases are attributed. Two or three sorts of antelopes
and insects are held sacred ; the chief of these is said to be a cater-
pillar whom they adore for success in the chase. They roughly embalm
their dead, and lay them on their side in the grave : " death is only a
sleep *' they say ; sometimes a pile of stones is raised to mark the spot.

Amongst all these races, Kaffirs, Hottentots, and Bushmen,
missionaries, both German and English, have now been labouring
for many years with the usual varying success and failure. Their
labour is the work of faith, ,and in some individual cases that
faith has been rewarded. But as far as the mass is concerned,
there is a great gulf fixed between our ideas and theirs, their
hopes and aspirations and ours. To the dim stirrings of their
imperfectly developed intellects Europeans are and must remain
in a great measure strangers. England and Englishmen can rule
native races, can turn them into good customers, into orderly
subjects, and into indifterent Christians — no better and no worse,
perhaps, than the majority of white men ; but neither they nor
their religion can ever hope to gain their entire sympathies or affec-
tions, as peoples whom we consider inferior, and religions which we
consider false (Arab and Mohanamedan, for instance), have been able
to do. The most strange fact, though the most certain in nature, is
the unequal development of the human race. If we look at the early
ages of mankind, we see by what painful steps and slow toil the
higher races have developed and emerged into civilisation ; and if
there is one thing more than another to which the grand law of

z 2

340 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

continuity will apply, it is to human progress. There are certain
stages through which society must pass in its onward march from
barbarism to civilisation : the superior race may perhaps do some-
thing to accelerate the passage of the inferior through such stages,
though their ability to do even this has been greatly exaggerated by
the benevolent wish and hopes of a few ; but we have every reason to
believe that it is not possible for humanity to leap over these transi-
tion epochs and pass at once from pure savagery to free civilisation.
Nevertheless, the duty of the Englishman is clear : by dealing justly
with all these natives, by giving them fair play and protection, and,
above all, patient consideration, we shall, in good time, do some-
thing — be it much or little — towards elevating them.]

Lord Charles Scott, and also Captain Stephenson and Captain
Durrant, joined us in the Library and afterwards came to Govern-
ment House to lunch. In the afternoon Sir Hercules Robinson
drove us to Oude Molen to see Ketchwayo, the Zulu King, at the
farm where he is now kept, a few miles outside Cape Town. He
weighs 18 stone and is nearly six feet tall, large boned, but heavy
in the haunches, with enormous thighs and legs. In European
dress he does not look well, but he gave us his photograph in his
native costume, which is almost nothing at all, and we also gave
him ours. He told us through the interpreter how he longed to
be set free and to return to his own land : and how he had hopes
that this would now be permitted. He spoke quickly and with
much emphasis and dignity, waving his right hand and resting his
left on a long staff as tall as himself He seems a blood-thirsty
old chap and said that "he wanted to wash his spears in the blood
of the Boers of the Transvaal, who were always encroaching on
him. The English restrained him and told him if he attacked the
Boers he would be attacking them. He then made up his mind
to attack them directly. Then came Sir Garnet Wolseley and
broke up his kingdom." " Now," says Ketchwayo, "let me go, and
I will walk through the Boers, who, you see, after all, are your
enemies and not friends as you supposed. You delivered them
from Sikukuni ^ too : and you baulked him of his vengeance upon

^ Sikukuni was a chief of the Bapedi clan of the Betschuanas, who had settled in
the country to the north-east of the Transvaal territory 200 years ago. In the early
part of tliis century the Swazi Kaffirs drove out the Bapedi, but eventually Sikukuni's
father reoccupied the country and conquered the Swazi. This occurred before the
Dutch arrived in the Transvaal district. The chief of the Swazi made over to the
Boers his nominal right to the land (then held by the Bapedi), a district about equal
in size to all England south of the Thames and Severn, for 100 head of cattle. (By
Kaffir law no chief can alienate land belonging to his tribe.) In 1854 the Transvaal

1881. VISIT TO KETCHWAYO. 341

them. He and I would have made an end of them long since, had
you not held us back ; let me go and I will do it now." ^

Government tried also to purchase the right of his rival, Sikukuni's father, to the Bapedi
tei-ritory, but without success : and down to 1868 it appears not to have belonged to
the Transvaal ; in 1875 it was certainly claimed by that State. The immediate cause,
however, of the war between Sikukuni and the Boers was this. Johannes, an
under-chief of the Bapedi clan, became a Christian and settled in the Transvaal,
but afterwards returned to Sikukuni. The Dutch claimed him as a fugitive and
declared w-ar, and the Swazi joined them against their old enemies. They conquered
and killed Johannes ; but those who attacked Sikukuni's stronghold were repulsed
by that chief, and retired to Pretoria, Meanwhile he had entered into alliance with
Ketchwayo. The British annexed the Transvaal in 1878, but Sikukuni stated that
he w^ould not brook the interference of any white men with his affairs. In November,
1879, Sir Garnet Wolseley, after Ketchwayo's defeat, proceeded against Sikukuni and
required him to acknowledge the Queen's supremacy and to pay 2,500 head of cattle
as fine, since the British Government had taken over bodily all territories claimed
by the Transvaal. Sir Garnet wrote : " I do not desire to enter upon any question of
the original justice of the quarrel with Sikukuni, Unfortunately that quarrel came
to us as a heavy heritage we could not refuse from the Government of the South
African Kepublic. Such differences where savages are concerned cannot be settled
by any civilised method of adjustment, According to native ideas a difficulty can
only end in one simple way, by the confirmation of the ascendency of the stronger and
the subjection of the weaker," Sikukuni Avished to come to terms with the British,
but his under-chiefs dissuaded him. Sir Garnet moved 16 companies of infantry (of
the 21st and 94th Regiments), 450 mounted volunteers, 4 guns and 1,000 Swazi against
Sikukuni's kraal and stronghold. After taking it, he set up the authority of the
under-chiefs under a British magistrate. The most prominent of these under-chiefs
was Mampoer, In 1882 the British Government, changing its policy, restored
Sikukuni. But he was unable to rally his old followers, having, according to Kaffir
ideas, lost his dignity by having been taken prisoner, Mampoer killed him. The
Dutch, to whom the Transvaal had now reverted, demanded Mampoer. He fled to
Mapoch, another chief of the Betschuanas, who was at war with the Boers, in that
he refused to acknowledge their supremacy, though he had paid taxes to the
English, and Avished to take their side in the Transvaal war. In 1883 Mapoch's
stronghold was blown up with dynamite, Mampoer captured by the Boers and
hanged, and Mapoch imprisoned for life, and his tribe "indentured" for five years.

^ In the later years of King Panda, Zululand was distracted by the rival ambitions
of his sons. In 1861, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Secretary for Native Affairs in
Natal, was sent by the Government of that Colony on a mission to induce the Zulus
to recognise some one of the sons as heir to the throne, Ketchwayo was chosen by
the nation, Panda, and the Natal Government, and acted as regent for his father till the
latter died in 1873. Then, at his request, Sir Theophilus wenttoUlundi and crowned
Ketchwayo in the presence of the Zulu clans. During the first years of his reign he
was friendly with Natal, but after the annexation by England of the Transvaal a
material change in the relations of the two Powers took place, Ketchwayo had had
a boundary dispute with the Transvaal dating from 1861 ; after the annexation, his
enmity was naturally transferred to its successors. The question was referred to the
arbitration of three commissioners, by Ketchwayo and the Queen's Government : the
final award being reserved to Sir B. Frere as High Commissioner. In September,
1878, Sir Bartle Frere arrived in Natal and took up the consideration of the boundary
question and our general relations with Zululand. On 11th December he gave his
award and *' ultimatum." The Zulus were to obtain the political sovereignty of the
disputed territory, but all farmers who had acquired lands therein, since 1861, were to
retain them ; certain refugees in Zululand who had raided over the British border
were to be given up ; and a fine of 500 cattle was to be paid for not having surrendered
them before when demanded by the Natal Government ; besides this it was demanded
that Ketchwayo should receive a British Resident (without whose consent he was never
to go to war), allow missionaries to live securely in his country, abolish the whole of
his military system and the laws restricting marriage. Twenty days were given for
reply ; but, none being forthcoming, Lord Chelmsford advanced into Zululand in
three columns between the 11th and 14th of January, 1879. On 22nd January, two

342 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

Ho says that if he went back to his own people, nothing would
induce him ever again to disobey the commands of his mother, the
Queen of England. To him, as to all the natives here, "the
Queen" represents an ideal English power, far off in the distance,
but whose real behests, when once clearly understood and plainly
given (it is said) they would no more think of disobeying or calling
in question, than civilised nations would disregard those of Heaven
or of the Almighty. All natives, the Basutos, Zulus, Betschuanas,
invariably profess their desire to come under "the Queen," in
preference to the Cape colonial authority : doubtless of course
in some measure because the colonial is the only one that really
pinches, or is felt to be disagreeably near. We went into a little
room, bare of all furniture, and there saw his four wives, weighing
each between sixteen and seventeen stone ; they were happily

engagements were fought. In the first, at Isandhlwana, 18,000 Zulus attacked the
camp of the first column, which was defended by one half of the force, the rest
having gone on with the General to the next camping ground. The British camp,
transport, and all the ammunition and artillery were taken, and about 1,000
English were slain, less than forty escaping over the Buffalo River, On the same
night the Zulus crossed the Buff*alo and attacked the commissariat and hospital at
Rorke's Drift, held by one company of the 24th under Major Chard, R.E., who
heroically defended it. The second column meanwhile, under Colonel Pearson,
defeated the Zulus, and occupied Ekowe, where they entrenched themselves. The
first column had to fall back into Natal and evacuate Zululand. The third
column was under the command of Sir Evelyn Wood. On the 12th March, a
company of the 80th Regiment were surprised at the Intombi River and all killed ;
and on the 20th March, the cavalry and natives of Wood's column suff"ered a grievous
loss at the Zloblane mountain : but on the following day the whole Zulu army of
24,000 men attacked the British at Kambula and were defeated. On the 3rd April,
Lord Chelmsford having received reinforcements from England, relieved Colonel
Pearson at Ekowe, and on the 4th July the battle of Ulundi was fought, and the
military power of the Zulu kingdom was finally broken to pieces. On the 28th August
Ketchwayo, who had fled to the bush, was taken prisoner through the treachery of one
of his chiefs. On the 1st September, Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had arrived as High
Commissioner, assembled the clan chiefs at Ulundi, and stated that "the dynasty of
Chaka was for ever deposed." The country was divided into thirteen districts,
each under an independent chief, holding office by the direct gift of the Queen of
England ; a British Resident was appointed for Zululand, to whose arbitration they
were to refer their quarrels, and the importation of all arms was prohibited. And so
ended a war which Mr. Gladstone stigmatised as " most monstrously unjust." On the
15th September, Ketchwayo arrived at Cape Town under escort and was confined in
the castle. "I am no longer a king," he told the Cape Ministers when they came to
see him, " but the English I find -are a great people, they do not kill those who have
fought with them. I hope the great Queen will pardon me and allow me to return
to my country, and give me a place to build myself a kraal where 1 may live. I am
sorry I did not follow the advice of my father Panda on his death-bed : he told me
to live at peace with the English and never make war with them." In the summer
of 1882 he was brought to England. On the 25th August he landed again at
Cape Town, just three years after his former landing, but this time "dressed in a
fashionably cut double-breasted frock coat, wearing a Lincoln and Bennett of the
severest gloss, and bearing in his hand a silver- tipped walking cane, given him by
the Prince of Wales." At the beginning of the year 1883 he was recrowned at Ulundi
by Sir Theophilus Shepstone : but his power was gone, discord and civil war ensued
among the chiefs, and in less than a twelvemonth Ketchwayo was slain.

1881. VISIT TO KETCHWAYO. 343

squatting on the ground, wrapt in Scotch plaids. Even thus there
was a certain dignity about them, and one in particular had a very
intelligent face. A Zulu servant of the King was brewing Kaffir
beer — which is a sort of mash made in a copper from meal : the
grain, maize or millet, is wrapped in a mat and left to sprout ; it
is then ground into meal and having been boiled is placed in a large
pot to ferment. On the top of the man's head was pointed out to us
the peculiar black indiarubber-looking ring. The right to wear
this is given to the Zulus by their chiefs when they are of proper
age to be married. The rings are made of a sort of fungus that
grows on trees ; and are of the size and look of an ebony walking-
stick. Fibre and string are used to render them firm ; these are
woven and twisted in with the hair on the man's head and well
greased with bullock's fat : there the ring remains for the rest of
their lives, and the hair inside and outside the ring is shaved off.
The house is completely unfurnished, and the bare boards of every
room are left uncovered, as this is the state in which they prefer to
live. In the hall over the door there is a framed engraving
of the Queen. The Government gave 4,000/. to purchase this
house and the small farm around it, on which there are a few
cattle for Ketchwayo to amuse himself by looking after. He eats
an enormous quantity of meat each day, and as he suffers from
rheumatism through want of exercise, his quota of rum has been
doubled. A little further on live the other two ex-kings of the
Kaffirs, Langalibalale ("the Burning Sun "), and Kreli, the clan chief
of the Galekas. The latter was one of the leaders in the Kaffir war of
1850-53, and again invaded the colony in 1877, since which time
he also has been confined in the same honourable captivity : 530/.
annually are paid to support the former chief and his two wives.
Langalibalale, when first brought from Natal in 1873, was confined
on Robben Island but transferred here in 1875, and promised that
if he behaved well he might be sent back to Natal. He is now
old and broken down. Then we drove back to town. Colonel
BuUer arrived from England to-day on his way out to the front,
and dined at Government House. There was a cricket-match
to-day at Wynberg : Squadron versus the Western Province Club.
The Bacchante furnished six out of the eleven for the Squadron.
The Squadron scored seventy -two runs in the first innings and fifty-
two in the second. Western Province made seventy-five in the
first innings, fifty-three in the second, and five wickets to fall : so
we were well beaten. Every evening after dinner we can hear the

344 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. \881.

news-boys witli their rival ox-horns parading the streets, and

shouting out the latest telegrams from the seat of war. One

enterprising editor, when he has received any special intelligence,

sounds a great bell at his office to gather purchasers.

Feb. 21th. — We went to St. George's Cathedral with Sir Hercules

Robinson to morning service. A south-easter began to blow at

midnight, and Table Mountain in the morning was covered with

cloud. It lulled towards midday. At about 6 P.M. Sir Hercules

received a telegram announcing the defeat of the British by the

Dutch at Laing's Nek, and the death of Sir George Colley and

many British soldiers that morning on Majuba Hill.

** ' How are the mighty fallen ! '

Tell it not in Gath,

Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon,

Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,

Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

Ye heights of Majuha,

May no dew nor rain light upon you

Nor your fields of increase ;

For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away.

■se *

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle !

Slain upon thy heights : —
How are the mighty fallen,

And the weapons of war perished !"

Feh. 28th. — Though feelmg little inclined for any excursion, yet
in order not to disappoint those who had kindly made arrange-
ments for us, we left by special train at 8 A.M. with Mr. Southey,
Prince Louis of Battenberg, Lord Charles Scott, Evan-Thomas,
the doctor, and Mr. Newton, for Durban Koad, where we arrived
about twenty minutes after starting, and found Mr. Frank Duminy
waiting with Cape carts for us. These are light carts on two
wheels, drawn by two little horses with the pole between them,
curricle fashion, and covered with a hood to shield off the sun ;
there are two seats inside, on each of which two persons can sit ;
the hinder seat is sometimes reversible, so that its occupants
can either sit English dog-cart fashion, or else looking forward in
the same direction as those on the front seat. They are very
comfortable for the country roads ; plenty of air comes in at the
sides, which are merely curtains that can be furled or let fall
fore and aft, as occasion may arise to keep the dust or rain
out. We drove up in these to his fathers farm — a Dutch
homestead, behind a grove of fine old trees, approached over a
dell, down to which the ploughed fields sloped, with their fresh-
turned brown earth. Here a hospitable breakfast was prepared

1881. BOK SHOOTING IN COBUEG COUNTY. 345

for us at 9 A.M., the old gentleman's four sons, as well as himself
and his wife, doing the honours of the table. In the parlour were
portraits of their ancestors, and of the old Huguenot admiral
who, first of the family, settled at the Cape after the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes. After breakfast we mounted the Cape
carts again, and drove still further into Coburg county, to the
farm of Mr. Oostersee, son-in-law of Mr. Duminy. There we all
mounted ponies, and rifle in hand, rode over the hill-side, now bare
of crops but here and there covered with copses and other growth,
in search of bok ; the ponies are trained to pull up sharp and
stand steady, while aim is taken by the rider. But it was too
late in the day for us to see much game ; the best time, of course,
is the early morning. It was very hot riding in the sun, too hot for
the bok to lie, and we only sighted about a dozen altogether. It
was astonishing to see one or two shots made by "Uncle" Duminy,
who appeared in scarlet, and looked just like an old English
hunting squire. They all begin to shoot thus when quite children.
We got some shots at partridges and rabbits, and after enjoying
some huge water-melons at Mr. Oostersee's, which were as refresh-
ing as anything we ever tasted, we rode back to the other farm by
5 P.M., where a regular dinner was spread. No one could have
spoken more feelingly of the terrible news we had received the
day before, than did our excellent and worthy hosts. We drove
back to Durban Road, and returned by special train to Cape Town,
arriving there at 8 P.M.

March 1st. — Mail day, every one writing all the morning. In
the afternoon we all went to a garden party, given by Mr. Alex-
ander Van der Byl, at Wynberg. Driving there by Rondebosch,
the lanes were just like those in England, the same trees and
hedges. The house is prettily situated under the cliff of Table
Mountain, and from the terrace in front there is a fine view away
over the woods to the Hottentot hills beyond. There were many
officers there from the squadron, and several of these joined in
games of lawn-tennis and archery, which were arranged in a large
paddock, at the end of a shady walk through the flower-garden
and shrubbery. We drove afterwards to the "Vineyard," the
Governor's country house, where there are very extensive gardens,
in which we wandered about and picked any amount of flowers
and fruit, and so back to town. Colonel Montgomery, of the
Scots Guards, dined at Government House.

March 2nd. — Prince Louis left early to return to the Inconstant

346 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

at Simon's Bay. After breakfast Mr. Sou they and Mr. Laing
(Minister of Public Works) took us by special train out to Mulder's
Vley (or temporary shallow lake) to visit an ostrich farm. The
run, about forty miles out, was through a prettier country than
any we have yet seen here, though it was very hot, as this is the
Cape midsummer, and is equivalent to August in England. John
Scott joined us from the ship. We saw a flock of between two
and three hundred ostriches which are tended by boys with pronged
and forked sticks ; by presenting the stick at the ostrich and catch-
ing his neck in the fork a boy can hold at bay and manage even
the most savage old cock. Curiously, they never raise or lower
their throat out of the prong ; and they do not kick out behind. If
the ostrich used the ordinary bird-weapon he would be an insignifi-
cant foe, for the long neck towering eight or nine feet in the air is
as weak as it is flexible, and he can accomplish no dangerous
" peck." His tremendous legs, however, more than serve him
instead, being armed with two toes, whose horny tips '' can cut and
rip like cold chisels." With these the stronger birds have a vicious
way of striking out in front, straightforward at their opponent, and
inflict a terrible bruise and wound at the same moment. Horses
have their flanks torn open or are knocked over by the blow, whilst
men, spite of all precautions, frequently receive severe injuries.
There are several ready ways, however, of avoiding the furious on-
slaught. The farmer throws himself flat, and then the ostrich
merely dances on his body. But the best defence consists in the
long forked pole, which entraps the bird's neck as he rushes
forward, and then he can be held at arm's length until his
adversary gains the fence. Though this, whether of stone or
wire, is never raised higher than the breast of the ostrich, he
justifies his ancient reputation for foolishness by not attempting
to raise his long legs and step over. His magnificent-looking
wings are utterly useless for the purpose of flying, but he makes a
grand exhibition and agitation of them when angry. Except at
the mating period, however, he is as harmless as the female bird,
and can be readily driven in flocks. When the ostriches' eyes are
covered they are quite quiet.

The birds begin to feather when eight months old, and their crop
of feathers inproves in value with each season. At three years of age
the young ostrich becomes bright red on his legs and beak, and this
is a sign of puberty ; they are then paired off in pens for breeding,
and each pair will sit on seventeen eggs at a time. Each hen lays

1881. OSTRICH-FARMING. 347

about twenty eggs in August. The male bird takes the gi-eater
share in the duty of incubation, and is the more careful in regard
to the eggs. If the female is very careless the male bird has to do
double duty. He occasionally uses gentle persuasion in the form
of vigorous kicks, in order to induce his more indolent mate to
take a fair share of the common work. The female sits more
usually in the day time, and the male during the night. We saw
one female ostrich sitting on her eggs in one of the pens, and
the old cock walking about keeping guard over her, very jealous
and savage. The harvest of feathers is taken about every six or
eight months off the tail and wings of the bird ; they are nipt or
cut, not plucked, as they come to maturity. The twelve precious
feathers from each side are severed with a sharp knife an inch above
the skin, and only a few are taken at a time in order to avoid all
chance of injuring the wing by stump inflammation. The value
of the feathers varies, of course, according to size ; the best sell
at from 30/. to 40/. sterling per pound in Cape Town market :
these are the choicest white feathers taken from a number of
birds. The white feathers off one full-grown male ostrich some-
times fetch as much as 121. A pound weight contains about
eighty feathers, and as ladies in Europe pay one or two guineas
each for the best, some considerable profit must be made outside
the expenses of bleaching and dyeing before they reach their
ultimate purchasers. There are many variations in the texture
and beauty of the male ostrich plume and that of the female.
Dusky grey and brown in colour are always less valuable. Con-
noisseurs also detect a distinction between the feather from a wild
and one from a domesticated bird. The so-called " tame " feather
is somewhat stiffer, has " galleries " in the quill, and will not retain
dressing and curl so readily. Still, the demand for them increases,
and even if the supply become quadrupled within the next few years,
there seems no risk of their becoming a drug in the market. In
1869 there were eighty domesticated ostriches in Cape Colony ; ten
years later the census showed the enormous increase of 32,247,
and though that rate of progress has scarcely continued under the
disturbed conditions of more recent years, it has still been great.
In proportion as the wild ostrich diminishes in numbers under the
attacks of savage tribes, who, unthinkingly, destroy the eggs as well
as the birds, the domesticated ostrich will become more valuable,
and gradually come to represent the species as the original type of
greater elegance and beauty fades away.

348 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

Ostrich-farming is now taken up in Algeria, South America,
and Australia. The Cape, however, suppKes three-fourths of the
demand for feathers. Ten years ago the ostrich-feather industry
in Cape Colony was practically unknown. Now the the value of the
produce from domesticated birds exported to England is nearly a
million sterling a year, and the capital embarked in the industry
must be at least five times that sum. At present the enormous
increase of the supply has not greatly affected the demand. Ostrich
feathers are divided into twenty-two grades or qualities. Of these,
four, including all the most valuable kinds, have fallen very con-
siderably in value as compared with the quotations of ten years ago.
Five of the inferior kinds are very decidedly higher in price, while
the remainder are pretty much the same, owing to the superior
manipulation and bleaching now applied to ordinary feathers.

The first essential for ostrich farming is sufficient roaming ground
for the shy, cunning birds, and the next is strong, though not high,
fencing. It is found that about 600 acres of favourable soil will
keep eighty ostriches, but not more than fifty can be kept on the like
extent of "hard karoo" or "sour grass," since this is deficient in
alkalis. The birds dislike tree shade, and suffer far less than sheep
or horses from the sharp and sudden variations of cold and heat
peculiar to the climate. Under some conditions of veldt, or soil,
they may be herded in large flocks, without shelter or artificial
food ; but more often they require a supply of bone-dust and a diet
of mealies or Indian corn, maize, or barley. It is usual, also, to
separate them into what may be called families, one male ostrich
and two or three hens — at all events during the nesting season.

Herding ostriches is only with difficulty made to pay, as when
the birds ought to be feeding hardest (that is in the early morning
and evening), they are being driven to the feeding-grounds and
back. Besides this the Hottentot boys go to sleep in the veldt,
and have an awkward way of bringing the birds home several short
in number. This entails days of hard riding for the farmer under
a scorching sun to recover his property. If he accomplishes this
he is lucky ; but it is a remarkable fact that, although the birds
may be lost in full plumage, when they are found again it is no
uncommon thing to find them featherless, in many cases with all
their feathers dragged out, and thus ruined for ever. When the
feathers are pulled out, it is the work of the Hottentot or Kaffir ;
but sometimes the birds are found carefully clipped — there are
such things as dishonest neighbours. Ostrich-farming does not

1881. OSTRICH-FAEMING. 349

afford a good prospect to men of small capital. In addition to the
capital for fencing and land, a considerable sum is required for the
"stock." A male ostrich costs from SOL to 100/., and half-grown
broods sell for 151. each chick. Some of the best birds we saw are
worth 1501. a pair ; others, half grown, fetch only 10/. or 8/. The
cost of wire-fencing is very great, as in many cases the poles have
to be carted thirty or forty miles, and on the hard karoo the holes
for poles have to be blasted, as there are only about two inches of
soil over the solid rock in some places.

No small capitalist should attempt ostrich-farming. Two men
with a couple of thousands each may make a fair thing of it,
supposing they take a farm already fenced, but they will never
amass large fortunes ; should they have to fence, the capital
required would be far more. The really good tracts of veldt
suitable for ostrich-farming are appropriated and belong to men
who have no intention of letting them. There is also a prejudice
against new-comers, all the best farms are wanted for the sons of
Dutch, German, or English already out there. It must be admitted,
moreover, that the risks and losses from disease, destruction of
eggs, and robbery by natives are important drawbacks ; drought
also annually kills thousands of ostriches. After two or three
months' drought the country becomes perfectly black and dried
up; and, although the farmer may keep his birds going for some
time by artificial feeding, still the quantity of mealies, barley,
&c., the birds consume, will, if he has anything like a large number,
break any one but a wealthy man. And it has been satisfactorily
proved that the birds, when confined to artificial food, lose condition,
and their feathers, as a natural consequence, suffer. The mortality
amongst ostriches is very great. By disease, accidents, broken
legs, &c., the average loss is about 25 per cent, per annum. The
ostrich's leg, although very formidable in kicking, is most easily
broken. A small Kaffir boy can break an ostrich's leg with a
stone the size of a pigeon's egg, and on one occasion three birds'
legs were broken as they bolted, being frightened by a hare jump-
ing up among them. A Kaffir or Hottentot costs 30/. a year in
wages and keep. Probably in the future more will be done in
ostrich-farming by companies than by private adventurers.

This house used to belong to an old Dutch bachelor, called Abbas
Bey, and is beautifully clean and old-fashioned, with raised " stoep "
or step-platform on three sides, and farmyard around, now all used
for ostriches only ; they are under the care of Mr. Brinck, with whom

350 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

we lunched. He very kindly let us take some feathers off the
ostriches, and carry away some eggs from the nests.

We returned by train at 3.30 P.M., by a different route from that
by which we had come out, going back via Paarl, with its six miles
of vineyards, and Stellenbosch, a regular Dutch village where the
houses are chiefly built of wood : it was destroyed by fire ten years
ago, so that smoking in the streets is now forbidden.

Not so long ago it was the custom for all ministers of the Dutch
Keformed Church to be educated in Holland, but now the Dutch
have started a college of their own at Stellenbosch, where their
pastors may be educated. There is probably no country where the
clergy are more freely and more liberally supported. In nearly
every district the Dutch clergyman will have an assured salary of
three to five hundred pounds, a residence, extensive garden grounds,
presents " in kind " (wine, cheese, butter, mealies, grapes and stock) ;
and a standing bed and meal in every house in his district ; for
it is simply impossible to exaggerate the hospitality of the Dutch
yeomen. They are equally liberal in providing for the education
of their own children, for they have a shrewd notion of the value
of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

From Stellenbosch w^e passed on to Cape Town through pretty
scenery like that in some parts of Scotland. Railways in Cape
Colony cost 7,000/. a mile to make — more than three times what
they do in Buenos Aires. At one of the stations we saw a
great number of Malays, who looked uncommonly cheery and
bright, keeping some festival of their own. They are very fond of
holiday-making and picnics, and a happier lot never lived. They
work for money, not for its own sake, but for the pleasure it brings.
On returning to Government House at 5.15 P.M. we had some
games of lawn-tennis in the garden with Mr. Osborne and other
officers from the ship.

March Srd. — -At 10.30 A.M. a deputation from the Mohammedan
Malays, consisting of their priests and holy men, in beautiful
long silk robes and turbans, very picturesque and polite, came
to Government House and read an Address. There are a great
many of these Malays here, the descendants of the Dutch slaves
imported from their East Indian Empire. They carry on a
great part of the manual labour of the colony, and are a most
useful and well-behaved body of men ; the principal part of them
are bricklayers, plasterers, carpenters, and tailors. Nearly all the
coachmen and washerwomen in Cape Town are Malays, and so are

1881. CAPE TOWN— DOCKS AND BREAKWATER. 351

all the fishermen. They have more than one mosque here. After
they had left, came the mayor and municipality of Cape Town and
read another Address, and Eddy read a reply to them also.

At 11 A.M. we walked with Mr. Newton to the South African
College at the end of the avenue. This is the chief school here,
and English, Dutch, and German boys are all educated together.
The boys were drawn up in the uniform of their cadet corps and
went through some of their drills. Mr. Gill, the head-master, made
a speech and then took us through the class-rooms. Wessels, the
head boy, gave us an album with photographs of Cape Town ; then
we went outside in the courtyard and were photographed with the
boys. In the afternoon we were to have gone off to the Bacchante,
but, as there was a strong southerly gale blowing, stayed another
day with Sir Hercules Robinson. We went for a walk in the town,
but there were such clouds of dust all over the place that we took
refuge in the garden and had some more lawn-tennis. Just outside
the gardens and at the bottom of the avenue are the foundations
for the New Parliament Houses; they are to cost 120,000/.

We have kept as quiet here as we could ; there have been no
balls and no entertainments of any sort, for neither the people nor
ourselves are at all in the humour for such things.

March Uh. — W^ind still blowing strong from the south-east, and
everything smothered with the dust. Some of the officers, who
came over from Simon's Bay and remained to lunch, said that
there was not a breath of wind on that side of the mountain ;
which is odd, as that is apparently the side from which it is
blowing here.

In the afternoon we rode with Mr. Laing and Mr. Newton, first
to the docks and breakwater, which betw^een them have cost nearly
half a million. The latter is not yet completed, but is intended to
run out so as to protect the anchorage in Table Bay from the
north-westerly gales, which prevail and blow into Table Bay in the
winter time (i.e. from May to October) just as the south-easterly
gales do into Simon's Bay in the summer time {i.e. November to
April). The consequence is that in the Western Provinces of Cape
Colony the rain falls in the winter months, while in the Eastern
Provinces the summer is the wet season, as each wind comes laden
with moisture, the ''black north-westers" from the Atlantic and
the south-easters from the Indian Ocean. In former years the
loss of life and property by shipwreck in Table Bay occasioned
by this on-shore wind was distressingly frequent, but now is

352 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

comparatively unknown. Vessels can sail or steam either behind
the breakwater or into one or other of the three commodious docks,
which are completely sheltered from the gale. The breakwater
is to be finished in 1886, but at present only 1,870 feet of it
are built; this is about half thfe length it is intended to be.
On to this we went and saw the waves and heavy swell breaking
up on its western side, and had a good blow, free from dust.

The Duke of Edinburgh laid the foundation stone of the Alfred
Graving Dock when here, as captain in the Galatea, 24th August,
1867 ; seven years before, when middy in the Euryalus, he had
laid the first stone of the breakwater (the first public act of his
life), at the very time when the Prince of Wales in Canada was in-
augurating the Victoria Bridge at Montreal. The Alfred Dock is
400 feet long, ninety feet wide, with a depth of twenty-four feet
at high water over the sill ; it took three years to complete.
There is a second dry dock, 500 feet long and sixty feet broad,
that will take a vessel of twenty-seven feet draught (such as the
Bacchante or even larger), and the only dry dock of this size in Africa.
The Boadicca (our sister ship), 4,140 tons, lately re-fitted here.
We saw also a third graving dock under construction ; on this the
men were busily working. (It was formally opened by Sir Hercules
Robinson, October 20th, 1882, having cost 156,000/, to complete;
the Union Steam Ship Company's R.M.S. Athenian cut the
ribbon and took up her position in the basin. The water was
pumped out in five hours. The dimensions of the dock are 539
feet at coping level, 500 feet at keel blocks, 90 feet wide at coping,
38 feet at bottom altars, and 68 feet at entrance. The depth of
water over the sill of the entrance at low water is 21 feet, and at
high water 26 feet at ordinary spring tides. In honour of the
Governor the new basin was named the Robinson Dock.)

The railway begins at these docks and runs right to the Orange
River, 570 miles away, and thence on to Kimberley, seventy miles
beyond ; and tl^us goods can be put on trucks alongside the vessels
when unloaded and taken straight away for trade into the interior.
The number of vessels docked at Cape Town in 1882 was 926,
registering a million tons.

These works gave us almost more satisfaction than anything else
we saw at the Cape, for here at least was shown some vigour and
enterprise. The grey Paarl granite of which they are constructed
will take a good polish, and several pieces, made into various
weights, &c.,were sent to us afterwards by the Company.

1881. BOUND THE LION'S HEAD. 353

We then mounted and rode round the Lion's Head, stopping at
Captain Massingham's farm on the way to see the artificial hatching
of ostrich eggs. The " incubator" is a large wooden case, two yards
long and about the same in height, fitted up with wooden drawers.
Alono^side stands a hot- water boiler from which the hot water is con-
ducted into a small reservoir at the top of each drawer. In these
the eggs lie in rows on perforated zinc, and are kept at an even
temperature of 103° Fahrenheit. At the bottom of each drawer
there is another small pan of cold water, to evaporate and keep
the air moist. We saw some young ostriches that had just been
hatched, something like little hedgehogs ; they had a queer, mother-
less look about them, as they squatted helplessly on the sand, after
having come into the world by such a strange machine-like fashion.
They don't peck up anything for three days, and then begin by
eating stones ; this seems to give them an appetite for better food.
Ostriches require to be very carefully dieted when kept in confine-
ment, otherwise they lose their health and their plumage, and do
not lay eggs. It is the opinion of many old ostrich-farmers that
the enormous mortality among ostriches of late years is owing in a
great measure to artificial incubation.

Some of the older birds were penned in the field below ; their
tails and wings had just been cropped and harvested.

We found it very windy and dusty riding round the Kloof; in
some places, where the road is excavated on the cliff-side, the wind
was so strong that it seemed as if we and the horses, from which we
had dismounted in order to lead them, would be blown away ; and a
hail-storm of dust and small stones peppered us for ten minutes or so
as we passed the more exposed parts. We gathered some of the long,
thin, tapering leaves off the silver trees at one place. They are six
or seven inches long, and of a grey silvery colour, covered with silky
fluff and about an inch broad. You can paint views on them and
patterns, and they make capital book-markers. There are many
woods of these silver trees near Cape Town. They have the
look of willows in England with their leaves blown up by the
wind.

In the evening the captain took us to dine with Mr. Gill, the
Astronomer Royal, at the Observatory. We went first. to the
equatorial and saw Venus, Saturn, and also the moon, through it ;.
but the planets were nearly setting and were too low. on the
horizon — more especially as the air was in rather a disturbed state,
the wind being still very high — for us to see them well defined.

vol.. I. A A

354

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1881.

After dinner we went into the grounds again and had a beauti-
ful sight of several nebulae and double stars of the southern
hemisphere, of Eta Argus and Alpha Centauri ; we saw also the
transit instrument. It was very late when we drove back to
town.

March 5th. — There was a cricket-match this morning at Wynberg
between the Bacchante and the Diocesan College, in which we were
well beaten : Bacchante, first innings 76 ; Diocesans, first innings
116, second 105. At 3 p.m. we said good-bye to Sir Hercules and
Lady Robinson, who have been most kind to us during our stay here,

TABLE MOUNTAIN IROM THE KLOOF ROAD.

and have had most of the gun-room up to the House for a day or
two each. We then walked down through clouds of dust to the
landing-place, at the end of Adderley Street, where we went off in
the steam pinnace to the Bacchante: Currey has had a rough
time of it all this week, going backwards and forwards as midship-
man in charge of her, with the picquet for liberty men, as forty-
eight hours' general leave has been given from all the ships of the
squadron and most of the men have come over holiday-making
from Simon's Bay to Cape Town. The gale had been blowing

1881. AT TABLE BAY. 355

nearly all day, but in the evening freshened up and continued to
blow between seven and eight all night.

March Qth. — Southerly gale was still blowing, but the Bishop
(W. W. Jones) of Cape Town came off and preached at the morning
service on the main deck, on the " steadfast performance of duty
regardless of consequences." He stayed to lunch, and then we put
him ashore in the afternoon in the steam pinnace to the dockyard :
it was roughish and he got somewhat of a wetting.

Cape Town looks better from where we are lying at anchor in
Table Bay than from any point ashore. The grey, gaunt wall of
the Table Mountain, with its long flat summit, backs the whole ;
away to the right rises the more cone-like hill of the Lion's Face.
Here we are out of the way both of the smells and the clouds of
dust that are borne all over the town and are such a nuisance ashore.

March 1th. — Although the breeze was still pretty fresh, at 1 p.m.,
after morning school, Mr. and Mrs. Southey, and Mr. Duminy and
his sons, with a few other friends, came off to lunch. Afterwards
Ave fired a torpedo and a hand-charge from the steam pinnace, and
they went all over the ship, being especially pleased with the
engine-room. As the breeze again freshened in the evening they
got rather wet going ashore.

March 8th. — Weighed at 8.30 A.M. and proceeded under steam
out of Table Bay ; there was a slight breeze from the south-east at
the anchorage, but outside it was quite calm. We steamed close
under the Lion's Face and then dropped a target overboard and
fired at it. We had "expended quarter's ammunition" by 12.30.
In proceeding round the Cape we found it a strong dead head-wind
from the south-east with a bit of a sea running, and so came in for
the consequent pitching. Sighted the squadron in Simon's Bay
at 7.15 P.M. Moored at 8 P.M.

[Although the Cape station is the only One between St. Helena,
2,000 miles to the west, and Mauritius, 3,000 miles to the east,
where British men-of-war can repair, coal and refit, it is absolutely
undefended : there is not a single gun or a single fort either at
Table Bay or at Simon's Bay. In time of war the docks at Cape
Town could be knocked to pieces and the coal stored here be burned
by a single hostile cruiser. A scheme has been prepared to raise a
few earthworks and place some guns in position, but nothing has
yet been done ; it has been proposed further to place a fort on
Robben Island, in the mouth of Table Bay, and to erect a series of
batteries on Lion's Head, which towers above the docks and

A A 2

356

CRUISE OF n.M.S. BACCHANTE.
TABLE BAY TO SIMON'S BAY.i

1881.

Date.

Distance

UNDER

Steam.

Wind.

Temperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

p.m.

Noon

6P.M

Maroli
8

Miles.
57

S. toS. by E. 7 -8 -2

^ This chart shows the relative positions of the naval station at Simon's Bay, and
of Cape Town in Table Bay, and of the mountainous peninsula that divides them.
Each degree measured vertically off the side of the chart is equal to sixty miles ; and
each of the smaller sections (marked here in tens) is equal to one mile.

1881. STRATEGIC VALUE OF THE CAPE. 35T

anchorage of the breakwater, and the plunging fire from guns in
such a position would be irresistible. If this plan were carried out,
it would be necessary to concentrate all efforts on the northern
side of the Table peninsula, and to build shops, factories, and naval
stores there. It is true that in some respects Table Bay with its
docks and breakwater would make a better naval station than
Simon's Bay, situated at the other end of the Cape peninsula ; for
the latter is a small bay whose shores rise so rapidly into high
downs that there is no room for a dry dock or even the necessary
expansion of buildings. The anchorage too is exposed there to the
prevailing south-easterly winds, which at some seasons of the year
render the bay little better than an open roadstead ; and at the same
time on very many days the roughness of the water prevents all
coaling. Under any conditions this operation has to be carried
on there by lighters ; whereas in the docks at Table Bay the largest
men-of-war could lie alongside the wharves to coal. Simon's Bay,
moreover, is commanded on all sides by hills, behind which are
various small bays in which hostile forces might readily effect a
landing. For the permanent defence of an arsenal in Simon's Bay
these hills must be crowned with works, which would have to be
adequately garrisoned. At present there is on the shores of the
bay only a small establishment containing engineers' shops and
"stores." There is, however, urgent need for the extension of this
accommodation, if the place is to be maintained. Adjoining the
naval establishment is a private slip capable of hauling up small
vessels, and at a pinch gunboats of 400 tons. But this is the only
attempt at a slip, and it belongs to a private firm. That is all there is
to be advanced on behalf of Simon's Bay ; except that it is six miles
from the railway, and secluded and kept entirely for those connected
with the navy. The first question to decide, then, is whether to
defend both Table Bay and Simon's Bay, or only one of them ; and, if
one,' then which ? for if the Cape is to be retained, the defence of
some place here as a naval station in time of war would seem to
be a matter of concern. It is, however, as the accompanying chart
will show, quite futile to talk of holding this peninsula as a
Gibraltar, in case Great Britain gave up South Africa. Some
people have proposed to draw a line twelve miles in length across
from Table Bay to False Bay, and thus separate Table Mountain
from the rest of South Africa, so that the Cape Town peninsula,
and that only, should remain ours, while the whole of the rest of
the country (without its capital) would be left entirely to shape

358 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

its own future and give us no more trouble. But the peninsula
alone would be an exceedingly awkward place to defend land-
wards as well as seawards. Neither, again, as others have proposed,
could Simon's Bay be disconnected from Cape Town and held by
itself, while the capital was left in the hands of the independent
colony, even if the Bay were an adequate position for a naval station,
which it is not, unless supplemented by the resources of Cape Town.
Sixty miles to the north of Cape Town, however, lies Saldanha
Bay, one of the finest natural harbours in the world, in an almost
unpeopled district. Its length from north to south is fifteen miles,
and the entrance is three miles broad ; at all seasons and in all
winds it affords a secure and excellent anchorage ; and the only
wonder is that, when the Dutch first came to the Cape, they did
not found the capital there, instead of in the very exposed position
under Table Mountain. It is possible that Great Britain might
hold that bay, if the Cape voted itself independent. Saldanha Bay
is the one harbour within a distance of several thousand miles
where a naval arsenal could be made. It would be less easy to
attack and far cheaper to defend than either Table Bay or
Simon's Bay. But, nevertheless, at best the position would be in-
vidious and insecure, and, just as much as either of the other two
bays, would be constantly exposed to attack, if the territory which
now belongs to the colony were in independent or foreign hands.
The truth is that the Cape has lost and is losing much of its
strategic value since the Suez Canal was opened. Some people still
believe that it is dangerous to depend upon that route exclu-
sively for the means of transit to India and the Eastern seas, and
that it is indispensable for Great Britain, and essential to the
security of her commerce with all the Australian Colonies, India
and the Straits Settlements, to retain possession of the harbours at
the Cape as coaling stations and places for refitting and provisioning
ships. Yet every year the necessity is lessened. The Canadian
Pacific Railway already gives Great Britain one alternative route by
which to despatch her troops in case of need to the East : and the
Panama Canal will in 1888 furnish another; it is plain, therefore,
that, with these three alternative routes, if South Africa were for
valid reasons (be they what they may) to pass into other than
British hands — (say those of the Dutch, or Germans) — it would not
really make such a vast difference to England as has sometimes been
supposed, more especially since both or either of these Teutonic
Powers should always be the allies or friends of England. An

1881. AT SIMON'S BAY. 359

active enemy in possession of Simon's Bay or Table Bay might
intercept some small portion of the ocean traffic between Europe
and the East, but not much; not nearly so large a proportion of the
traffic as formerly when the English first took possession of the
Cape on the then sole trade route to the East. Other things
being equal, we had better keep it than part with it ; but the
retention of these two bays, at present totally undefended, is not
any longer of sufficient importance to warp our judgments in con-
sidering the possibility of South African independence, much less
to justify the English, who are a very small minority in the European
population of these lands, in wishing to " assert their paramount
supremacy," or in squandering millions in endless complications
with the native tribes and clan chiefs of the interior.]

March 9th. — At 10.20 A.M. shifted berth closer in, as it was
dark when we arrived last night. Admiral inspected Cleopatra.
As the south-easterly gale freshened in the evening some of our
officers, who had orone for a walk, could not get off, and the next
morning communication with the shore was also difficult.

During the next ten days we had the usual drills and exercises,
with alternate calms and strong gales from the south-east. The
days were bright and cloudless and the nights were the same, with a
moon nearly at its full. The sound of the wind rushing past the
ship at anchor day after day and night after night is rather
monotonous ; but it is the tail of the south-east trade, and therefore
we have no right to complain. We expected that some of the
squadron at any rate would have been taken on to Natal for
service ; we could have landed at least 1,000 men on our first
arrival, and, if ever they were wanted, they were wanted then ;
instead of which they have remained wearily waiting at Simon's
Bay, growling that they are brought here on a bootless errand from
South America. As for " demonstration," for us lying in this
secluded bay, twenty-one miles from Cape Town, well out of sight
of the Dutch, who have scarcely known of our existence, it is a
very hollow, make-believe affair. However, regularity and quiet,
every day school and work, with an occasional run ashore, has done
no one any harm. We are patiently awaiting orders as to what
is to be done next. We have been no use in any way here yet to
anybody but the beef-contractor, whatever people in England may
think.

One afternoon three senior and sedate members of the ward-room
went away in the dingy, fishing by the Roman Rock, and as it came

CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE.

1881.

on squally they got adrift and were in an awkward position, and
a cutter had to be sent after them to tow them back. As she
came alongside they sat bolt up in the stern sheets looking as
dignified as they could, and made believe to have thoroughly
enjoyed themselves.

AT SIMON'S BAY.

Date.

Wind.

Tkmperature.

Sea.

Air.

Noon.

C P.M.

Noon.

6 p.m.

March

S. toS.S.W. 6-8'2

8. to S.S.S. 7-9-7

S. by E. to 8.8. E. 7-9

S. by E. toS.S.E. 7 '9 -3

138.

S.E. 7 to calm

S.S.E. 3-8'6

S.S.E. 4-7 calm

N.W. 2-6 ca m

S.E. 1-6-4

S.E. 2-4

S.E. 3-5, N.E. 1

20S.

Variable 1

N.W. 4-5, S.E. 1

S.E. 1-7-3

S.E. 1*4 calm

S.S.W. 2-3, S. and S.E. 6-4

S.E. 4 -7 -4, S.E. 3-4 calm

278.

S.S.E. 4-7

S.E. 5-6, N.W. 3-4

N.W. 2-3, S.W. 2-1

Variable 1 -3

6tj

N.W. 3-5

April

N.N.W. 3-4, variable

N.W. 3-4, S.W. and S.E. 3-4

38.

S.E. 2-4

S.S.E. 4-6

S.E. 5-7

S.S.E. 6-7

S.S.E 7-2

S.S.E. 3-7

S.S.E. 7-4

March 17th. — In the dinner hour a photographer came on board
and photographed the ship's company. There was a cricket-match
between our bluejackets and those of the Inconstant, which the
Bacchantes won by ten wickets. In the supper hour we had
some very successful fishing off the glacis. Nearly every day lately

1881. AT SIMON'S BAY. 361

we have been running Whitehead torpedoes. Some of us have
been away sailing this afternoon.

March ISth. — The Russian corvette Vestnik, which had arrived
two days ago, hoisted the Russian flag half-mast high at 8 A.M. and
topped her yards on end, on account of the assassination of the
Emperor of Russia, the news of which had arrived by telegram on
the 14th. By a curious coincidence it was here, August 15th, 1867,
that the Duke of Edinburgh in the Galatea received the news of the
murder of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. At that date, too, the
colony was " in indifferent circumstances," — a cattle plague, a dis-
ease among the sheep, the grape disease, and excessive speculation
having more or less involved all classes in distress. In compliment
the squadron, with colours at half mast, joined in the funeral salute.
The Russian corvette fired a salute of thirty-one guns, beginning at
11 A.M., and each ship of the squadron in succession in order of
seniority fired twenty-one minute-guns, as also did the Flora and
Tamar. Before the firing our bands played the Dead March in Saul
and at the conclusion the Russian hymn. Basset, our new midship-
man, joined. He started from England to the Pacific, intending to
join the Bacchante there, and had got as far as the West Indies when,
hearing that the squadron had been ordered to the Cape, he returned
again to England and started afresh.

March \^th. — Cricket-match at Wynberg, Bacchante v. Tour-
maline, Carysfort, Gleo'patra, the former winning by thirty-five
runs. The corvettes in the first innings scored 74, and in the
second 65 ; the Bacchante in the first innings scored 109. Eddy
went over to see Mr. Southey, and afterwards rode on the grey
horse which the Prince Imperial was trying to mount just before
his death, June 1st, 1879 ; he is a strong, powerful, and very tall
animal, and went very well. The uniform worn by the Prince
Imperial was found afterwards, in November of the same year, in a
kraal near Ulundi, the whole front of it having been pierced by
assegais. The Zulu who actually inflicted the death-wound was
afterwards killed at Ulundi. He also called on the Bishop of Cape
Town at Wynberg. The total bag obtained during our two months'
sojourn here was a single hare of the lop-eared species, which was
shot to-day by one of our indefatigable shipmates, who had been
out after him for many days on the hills above Simon's Bay.

March 2Srd. — In the afternoon squadron regatta, pulling races.
The Governor and suite came on board to see it, and lunched with
the captain. The Cleopatra's boats won the majority of the races ;

362 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

the Bacchantes won three, and the flagship's two. Our launch won
the all-comers' race, and the officers' race was also won by a
Bacchantes crew which George coxed ; they were — bow, Evelyn Le
Marchant ; 2, A. M.Farquhar ; 3, F. B. Henderson ; 4, C. H. Moore ;
stroke, H. Roxby. The course was two and a-half miles; we
started from the Cleopatra, pulled round Roman Rock, then under
the Bacchantes stern, and finished at the flagship.

March 2'ith. — The sailing regatta began at 10.30 A.M. For the
first six races the boats all started together, quite a swarm of them
along the hawser. Our cutter, sailed by Christian, won the cutters*
race easily ; and our pinnace was winning in the pinnaces' race, but
was fouled at the mark-boat. The course was eight miles with nearly
three miles dead beat to windward. The boats started from Clec/patra,
rounded a mark-boat four cables astern of her, beat up to Noah's
Ark, passed it on the port hand, rounded the Roman Rock and
Castor Beacon, then back to mark-boat, and round again, finishing
off at flagship direct from Castor Rock. The flagship's launch won
the all-comers' race. The France, transport, came in from England
with troops for the Transvaal, but very likely they will not be
landed now, for the war is over with the British defeat at Majuba.
Mr. Blake gave a tea-party to the men of the squadron at the
Temperance Rooms ashore, to which thirty-two of our ship's
company went and much enjoyed themselves.

March loth. — The race for the Admiral's cup for all-comers, any
rig (boats handicapped), came off at 11 A.M. There were thirty-
two entries, and the result was that the Inconstant' s cutter, sailed
by the flag-captain, came in first ; the Carysfort's second ; and the
Bacchantes cutter, sailed by Mr. Farquhar, came in third. The
race was over the same eight-mile course as yesterday. At 5 P.M. all
the officers and coxswains of boats who had won any prizes went on
board the flagship, where Mrs. Wright, the wife of the commander
of the Flora, gave them away. I got a very nice little cup.

March IQtth. — The Squadron played a return match against the
Western Province Cricket Club, and won by thirty runs.
Squadron, first innings 130 ; Western Province, first innings 100 ;
second innings 49 and five wickets to fall. The Admiral made
a semaphore : " Boer peace signed ; Squadron to proceed to
Singapore after the arrival of the next mail from England,
expected on April 1st." Up to this period speculation had been
rife as to whether we should be ordered home, or beat back against
the westerlies round Cape Horn, and thus resume our original

1881. AT SIMON'S BAY. 363

cruise. Although this would have been a somewhat lengthy
passage, it was held that it would be a capital seasoning for the
officers and men of the Training Squadron ; and it would have
been a fine thing to have done that, which no one is recorded
to have done before — sailed straight across from the Cape of Good
Hope to the Horn, without first running up the " trades " to the
Plate. If unsuccessful at first, the plan was suggested of steering
south to latitude 60°, and trying to pick up a south or east
wind south of the westerlies. It might have been rather cold, and
we should have seen some icebergs and more fog, but it would
have hardened us up a bit. Another speculation was that we
might have sailed up with the south-east trade and crossed to
Monte Video (as Sir Home Popham did) and picked up the lost
thread of our cruise, and gone on from there to Valparaiso ; then,
omitting Vancouver altogether, made straight for the Sandwich
Islands, and kept the dates as originally arranged from Honolulu.
During the afternoon we went to play lawn tennis at Captain
Wright's and had some very good games.

March 21th. — Strong south-easter blowing, and the sea getting
up, but, as usual, with it a clear sky and bright sun. Admiral made
signal to " prepare for sea on Saturday," in six days' time. Had
Sunday services, as usual, on the main deck. In the afternoon
many officers came on board from the France, and had a look over
the ship.

March 2Sth. — Watched the sun rise this morning in a clear sky,
but full of colour over the Hottentot hills. At 6 A.M. the Tamar
went out to try her engines. She was to have taken Sir Hercules
Robinson to Natal. The same drill to-day as on many days in suc-
cession : crossed royal yards, loosed sails, hauled out to a bowline.
We went to school, the men to general quarters. My boat was
down, so I had to take the officers on shore and letters on board the
Flora and flagship. Then we manned and armed boats and got out
stream anchor and cable in the launch. After evening quarters I
read for two hours, then had tea.

March 2dth. — General Roberts arrived to-day by mail eighteen
days from England — the usual mail to England takes twenty-two
days — to take command of the British force for restoring order in
the Transvaal; but he returns by the next mail (April 1st) to
England, as they have changed their minds since he left home on
the 11th, and there is to be no more war; the peace was signed
March 21st, while he was at sea. Most of the troops brought out

364 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

at great expense are to return without landing, and this squadron,
brought half across the globe, is to be sent away also, for they have
no use for it here. The mail also brought all our letters which
had been down to the Falklands and home again from there to
England in the mean time. The Russian sloop Vestnik sailed for
Singapore, saluting Admiral's flag on leaving. General semaphore
from Inconstant, " Departure of squadron for Singapore postponed
for the present." So there has been another change of plans.

[It may not be amiss to insert here some account of the Transvaal
complications considered from a purely historical point of view,
and entirely without political bias, quoting only official papers.
In 1875 the Dutch settlers in that region were hard pressed
by the natives on all sides, by Sikukuni on the north-east, by
Ketchwayo on the south, and by the Betschuanas on the west.
Although in 1876 Khama, the ostensible over-lord of the Bets-
chuana clans, after having been converted to Christianity by the
London Missionary Society, desired to cede the protectorate of his
territories to the British, aud had learnt to say " There are three
things that distress me very much : war, selling people, and rum " ;
yet this pressure of the Kaffir race on the Dutch settlers appeared
(rightly or wrongly) to be a constant peril to the white race in
Natal and in South Afiica generally. The Government of the
Transvaal seemed also at that time to be incapable of enforcing its
laws or collecting its taxes ; the salaries of its officials had been
unpaid for months, the treasury was empty and the State bankrupt ;
the white inhabitants were split into factions. Burgers (a clergy-
man who had come out from Holland to the Cape Colony),
the President since 1873, admitted that " the independence of
the Transvaal could not be maintained unless the Volksraad would
consent so to change the constitution as to confer upon the
executive Government the necessary power to control the people."
He convened the Volksraad, Feb. 13,1877, and brought forward his
proposed measures. The Volksraad would have none of them.
Burgers then proclaimed a new constitution on his own responsibility.
But this only added to the anarchy. On the 12th April, 1877, Sir
Theophilus Shepstone formally re-annexed the Transvaal to British
territory. The reason put forward for the revocation of the Sand
River Convention, by which the British had guaranteed its inde-
pendence, was that the external policy of the Republic as regards
the natives had occasioned a dread of a general war from the
Zambesi to the Cape between the white and black races. At first

1881. ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 365

it appeared as if the only serious dissatisfaction at the annexation
was that felt by Ketchwayo and Sikukuni, who were thus baulked
of their fancied prey by seeing the Transvaal taken under the
protection of England. The majority of the Dutch themselves
apparently acquiesced in the step, thinking the Transvaal would
be either annexed to Cape Colony or have a legislative assembly
of its own. When Kruger started for England to protest, he
said frankly that " if he failed in his mission, he should become as
faithful a subject under the new Government as he had been under
the old." Other leading Dutch accepted office under the British,
stating that " they considered the change inevitable, and that the
cancelling of it would be calamitous." The deputation assured
the British Minister in London that " they were determined to use
their best endeavours on their return to induce their fellow
countrymen to accept cheerfully the present state of things ; and
that they desired to serve Her Majesty faithfully in any capacity for
which they might be judged eligible." No Volksraad was, however,
convoked by the British, no constitution given to the Transvaal.
The only excuse for this is that the British were occupied mean-
while in the Zulu war with Ketchwayo and with Sikukuni, and in
subduing these external enemies of the Transvaal. In June 1878
Kruger and Joubert came as a second deputation to England, to
ask for a retrocession of the territory, and threatened a general
trek to regions further in the interior if refused. They were
informed that as " the Transvaal had been relieved at a large cost
to the Imperial Government from the difficulties into which it had
fallen, the reasons which forbid a reversal of the steps thus taken
are tenfold greater than those which dictated the act itself to
those who had most reluctantly undertaken it." With a free
self-government and local home-rule it was hoped the Transvaal
would come into a confederation of South African States which
the English Government were then trying to bring about. Colonel
Lanyon succeeded Sir Theophilus Shepstone, March, 1879. The
Dutch discontent increased, and Sir Bartle Frere went to Pretoria
on April 12. The Boers asked for the restoration of the Sand
River Convention, and stated that up to the present they had had
no share in- their own local government. Sir Bartle replied that
the first was impossible, but that the second should be granted at
once. His Zulu policy was, however, disapproved of by the Home
Government while he was in Pretoria, and the Boers hoped his
Transvaal policy would be also disavowed. But they were soon

366 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

undeceived ; for Sir Garnet Wolseley was sent out from England
with full military and civil command in the Transvaal, Natal, and
Zululand, and in September 1879 came up to Pretoria. He twice
announced that "as long as the sun shone the Transvaal would
remain British territory " ; and stated in his proclamation issued at
Pretoria (which in two years had become three times as populous
as it was before the annexation), in the name and on behalf of Her
Majesty, that " this Transvaal territory shall continue to be for ever
an integral portion of Her Majesty's dominions in South Africa " ;
and again "there is no Government, Whig or Tory, Liberal,
Conservative, or Radical, who would dare under any circumstances
to give back this country. To give back this country, what would
it mean ? To give it back to the danger of attack from hostile
tribes on its frontier and to national bankruptcy. No taxes being
paid, the same thing would recur again as existed before : anarchy
and civil war within and every possible misery, the strangulation
of trade, and the destruction of property. Under no circumstance
whatever can Great Britain give back this country; facts are
stubborn things, and it is an undoubted fact that the English will
remain here." Shortly afterwards a constitution for the country
was published in the Transvaal Government Gazette, and the Dutch
were again urged to secure practical independence by becoming
thus a self-ruling member of a South African Confederation.

Early in 1880 Joubert and Kruger went down to Cape Town.
The Cape Parliament rejected all schemes for confederation, and
an Address was sent home to England signed by several Cape
politicians for annulling the Transvaal annexation. In March Sir
Garnet Wolseley once more proclaimed before starting for England
that the Queen's Sovereignty would never be withdrawn. Sir
George CoUey succeeded him as High Commissioner. In May,
1880, four Ministers of the new English Government one after the
other, three in the Commons and one in the Lords, stated officially
that "by the establishment of the Queen's supremacy they held them-
selves to have given a pledge to the large native population in the
Transvaal, which was twenty times more numerous than the Boers.
Deplorable as the state of things was in the Transvaal before 1877,
the English Government could not, if it would, re-create in Boer hands
even as strong a Government as that over which President Burgers
presided. What the Boers disliked was not so much a foreign Govern-
ment as a Government which attempted to exercise any authority
at aU or to levy any taxes. It was quite impossible to hand back

1881. TRANSVAAL WAR. 367

the country to the Boers ; to do so would be to incite commotion
and would not be just in itself. It must not be forgotten that the
Transvaal was a country nearly as large as France, and it was a
strong thing to assert that the will of even a considerable majority
of the 34,000 Boers — for that was their number all told, men,
women and children — should be final as to the future of so vast a
territory. The annexation had been accepted and ratified by two
Cabinets which were so diverse that they might be said to
represent almost every element which exists in British political
life; and whatever they might think of the original act of
annexation they could not safely or wisely abandon the territory.
We had at the cost of much blood and treasure restored peace, and
the effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the
province in a state of anarchy. Their judgment was that under no
circumstances could we relinquish the Transvaal. Noth'iDg could
be more unfortunate than uncertainty in respect of such a matter."
This official determination was telegraphed to the Cape, May 20th,
1880, and made known to Kruger and Joubert, with the hope
again expressed that " liberty would be most easily and promptly
conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African
Confederation." Many of the Dutch in the Transvaal prepared
to trek, and sold their farms to Englishmen, who had pressed
into their territory. In December some Boers declined to pay
taxes, and on the 13th the South African Republic was proclaimed,
a resolution to fight for independence was carried, and a Triumvirate,
Kruger, Joubert and Pretorius, was appointed. Of the seven
isolated bands of English loyalists that were then invested by the
Dutch, six held out to the end of the war, from December, 1880, to
March 28th, 1881 : (1) At Pretoria five companies of infantry
(267 men) with 200 mounted volunteers and 450 other soldiers
(1,000 troops in all) and about 4,000 citizens, mostly English, were
besieged by the Dutch. On December 20th two companies and the
head-quarters of the 94th Regiment coming from Lydenberg to
Pretoria were cut to pieces at Bronker's Spruit by 500 Dutch. Of
the 240 men composing the detachment 57 were killed, and 100
wounded. (2) At Potchefstroom were 213 loyalists, who surrendered
to famine on 19th March, and on the 23rd left with honours of war.
The truce for eight days made at Laing s Nek on the 6th March
was heard of on the 9th March,- but no provisions arrived. The
best account of the defence is given by Colonel Winsloe in
Mdcmillans Magazine, April, 1883. (3) At Standerton were three

368 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

companies, with some loyal colonists, who were invested from 29th
December to 28th March. An account of the defence was published
by Major Montague in Blackwood for May, 1883. (4) At Lydenberg
was a fort ; (5) at Rustenberg were 60 volunteers in a fort ; (6) at
Marabastad a fort with 60 men, 30 white volunteers and 50 natives,
and (7) at Wakkerstroom another. These all held out to the end,
expecting to be relieved by the British forces that were known to
be advancing from Natal. At this time there was not a single
important native chief from the Vaal to the Limpopo who did not
offer to help the English. Montsioa gathered a force of 3,000
men to go to the relief of Potchefstroom ; Mankoroane sheltered
and protected the English refugees ; Mapoch actually took the field
and a British official had to be sent to stop him. (All three have
since lost their cattle, land, and people.) In two days if allowed
every native would have been in arms, and by sheer weight of
numbers would have overpowered the Boers. Tribes which were
never agreed before were now united in loyalty to England ; but
they were ordered to be quiet; for it would have been as
unnatural a thing to have employed them against the Dutch as
it was to employ the Red Indians in North America against the
American colonists when they were struggling to be free.
However ready the white race may have been in South Africa for
their own advantage to play off the divisions of one tribe against
another, or the jealousies and claims of one clan chief against those
of his rival, yet it would have been repugnant to all right feeling
for whites to have employed blacks against whites.

On January 21st, 1881, the English Government " repudiate the
annexation of the Transvaal, but will not abandon it," and a
motion in the House of Commons " condemning the annexation of
the Transvaal and deprecating the measures taken by the Govern-
ment to enforce British supremacy over the people of that country,"
was defeated by a two-thirds majority. On January 27th, the
Dutch with 4000 picked men invaded the British colony of Natal
and occupied Laings Nek. On the 26th, Sir George Colley
with 1000 British troops arrived at Mount Prospect, four miles
below the. Nek, which he attacked on the 28th, but was repulsed.
On the 7th of February he- fought the battle of Ingogo, when the
British suffered a second defeat, and retreated leaving their
wounded and dead on the field. On the 16th of February a Royal
Commission was promised by telegraph through Sir John Brand,
President of the Orange Free State, by the. English Government,^

1881. MAJUBA. 369

'* .anxious to avoid effusion of blood," if the Boers will cease from
armed opposition : no reply to this was received at Laing's Nek
till March 1st. Sir Evelyn Wood (with reinforcements 2,000
strong, two days' march in the rear) joined Sir George Colley, but
was sent back by him to Maritzburg. On the night of the 26th
February, three companies of the 58th Regiment, one of the 60th
Rifles, three of the 92nd, and sixty-four men of the Naval Brigade
from H.M.S. Boadicea, 600 men in all with Kaffirs, were moved up
to the summit of Majuba, an isolated hill, which stands out from
the huge wall of the Drakenberg like a tower, on the left or north
side of Laing's Nek and rising 2,000 feet above it. The plateau at
the top is 400 yards long by 300 broad, at the height of 6,000
feet above the sea, but only 3,000 feet, or about the height of
Helvellyn, above the plain, which itself on the eastern or Natal
side of the Drakenberg is about 3,000 feet above the sea. Two-
thirds of Majuba Hill are steep slopes with low bush and rocks,
the last third is a precipice to the top, up which the British
climbed on their hands and knees. At dawn they were seen
by the Boers from below, who put oxen to their waggons and
prepared to retreat, expecting a flank attack to be made on the
Nek by the rest of the English, while those on Majuba shelled
them, Findino- no attack was made, and seeing that the British
on the top of Majuba had neither rockets nor mountain guns ,
and that they were out of rifle range, and therefore impotent to
attack the laager, the Dutch determined to storm. They rushed
at Majuba, while others in their rear fired over their heads as they
advanced, and picked off the English as they showed themselves
on the top of the hill. "A funk became established" among
our men. The order to fix bayonets and charge down upon the
advancing Boers was not executed. Weary and panic-stricken the
English turned and fled. Sir George Colley at the first rush was
shot through the head. (Curiously the Boer who shot him was
the very same day just two years afterwards himself shot in a
similar way by Mapock's Kaffirs). With a loud cry of fright and
despair the English flung themselves over the edge of Majuba ; the
Boers poured on, and fired on them below, as they ran like game.
The Boers had one man killed and five wounded; the English
ninety-two killed, 134 wounded, and fifty-nine prisoners. " There
have been cases when a defeat, invited by the mistakes of a British
general, has been saved by the courage of his men. But it was
not so at Majuba. The men made no effort to turn the fortunes of

VOL. I. B B

370 CKUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

the day. They commenced to run before the Boers reached the
top of the hill. The reserves bolted almost before they had fired
a shot. As regards the Boers, it is impossible not to admire their
courage. They said afterwards that when they commenced the
attack on the mountain, they never expected to storm it. It was
a forlorn hope which Smid led up the slopes of Majuba, for our men
had all the advantage of position. Let the Dutch have their due.
It was a brave and valiant act to ascend the steep slopes of the
Majuba Hill in the face of an enemy whose numbers were un-
known to them, and who were armed with bayonets — weapons
they did not possess. However opinions may differ about the
merits of the war, no one can deny that on that day the Boers
fought well and bravely." On the 5th March Sir Evelyn Wood, in
command of the forces, telegraphed home that after fourteen days
(i.e. on the 19th) he hoped to fight a successful action, and then to
offer an amnesty to the Boers, when they had retired from British
territory. Next day, on the 6th March, he signed an armistice
with Joubert, in order that provisions might be sent to the be-
leagured English garrisons in the Transvaal. On the 21st March,
under the shadow of Majuba, and on English ground, a preliminary
peace was signed. The terms were, the restoration of the Republic ;
the British to have a veto on all legislation affecting the natives
(of whom there were 800,000 in the Transvaal), and a Resident at
Pretoria. On August 3rd, at Pretoria, " the Convention " was
signed by Sir Hercules Robinson, Sir Evelyn Wood, and Sir
Henry de Villiers (the chief justice of the Cape Colony), Her
Majesty's commissioners for this purpose, and ratified by the
Volksraad (after many objections) on 2.5th October.]

March SOth. — The Bacchante and Carysfort played an eleven of
the garrison at Wynberg, and beat them by forty-nine runs.
Captain Fitzgerald gave a cup to be sailed for by cutters and
pinnaces with ordinary crews and midshipmen. There were about
twelve entries ; A. H. Christian sailed the Bacchante's first life-cutter
and beat all the others easily ; one of the Carysfort' s cutters came
in second, and another of her cutters came in third.

March Z\st. — It is raining, and as the wind is from the north-west
the hills over Simon's Town are all covered with dark clouds. In
the afternoon there was a pulling race between our launch and the
Inconstant' SGK\.\XQr, both double-banked ; Bacchante's won by twenty-
three seconds. There was a ball to-night given by some of the
residents in Cape Town to the Admiral and officers of the squadron.

1881. AT SIMON'S BAY. 371

The Admiral did not go, neither did we, as that morning we had
received by telegram intelligence of the death of the Queen
Dowager of Denmark. Prince Louis of Battenberg did not go
either on account of the death of the Emperor of Russia. Besides
the tension which there is just now between the British and the
Dutch in the Cape Colony, many families are also in mourning
through the loss of husbands and brothers in the Basuto war^
and the widows of other English officers who have recently fallen
in the Transvaal are now residing here; so this little community
is not in the humour for balls or gaieties. Every one is over-
whelmed with trouble ; and as the Basuto war is being carried on
by the volunteers and militia of the Cape Colony single-handed,
many of the chief promoters of such entertainments are away.
This ball was given in the Exchange Buildings, which were
very prettily decorated, and on one side a broad canvas alcove was
erected in which many flowers and shrubs were placed. There was
plenty of room for dancing, as the rooms were cool and not crowded.
A special train ran up from Wynberg to Cape Town and back again
after the ball was over, for the convenience of the officers of the
squadron.

The next day we lunched at Rondebosch, with Mr. Servaas Van der
Byl, who has a very pretty house there, filled with old Dutch china ;
some of it is very curious, having been taken out of the wreck of
an East Indiaman that went ashore here. Some of this china now
forms an encrusted mass, composed of many cups and saucers all
adhering together. He has also several pieces of old Lowestoft
china, — of which the Dutch used to get large quantities, — and a large
glass drinking-horn. We saw also there some very curious old books
of the early Dutch settlers about the Hottentots. On the hill behind
the house, and in the wood, we saw the old Dutch burial-ground, as
Rondebosch was one of the earliest settlements they made in the
land. The tombs are oblong, constructed of brick and plaster,
and arched over their whole length ; and at either end there stands
up a tablet of slate, the top of which has, however, by this time, in
most instances, been broken off, so that the names of the old
soldiers of the Dutch company that now lie beneath are no longer
decipherable, being buried among the brown grass and dry moss.
In the field by the house we saw an Arab stallion, by name Prince,
that had been brought home in the Serapis from India by the
Prince of Wales and afterwards sold to a purchaser out here.

April 6th. — A south-easter blowing all day, as it has been for

B B 2

372 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

the whole of the last week. H.M.S. Orontes (Captain R. G. Kinahan)
having landed the 99th Regiment, brought straight from Bermuda
to Cape Town, came round here. That night, at 11.30 P.M., the signal
was flashed from the flagship, which we were very glad to read,
as we spelt it out letter by letter on the poop : " Squadron will sail
— on Saturday — for M-e-1-b-o-u-r-n-e." Hurrah ! the click-click
of the flashing lanterns that have handed on to us through the
darkness that message from England has sent new life into
our veins.

The next day the Admiral gave an afternoon party on board the
Inconstant; and on the 8th the Squadron officers' football team
played a match against the Western Province football club,
and won.

On Friday we had hoped to ha.ve gone to Constantia, Wynberg,
and Cape Town, to say farewell to the Governor and his family,
but as the gale from the south-east was still blowing strong, it
prevented all landing in the morning, so we were obliged to send
messages instead. It lulled towards evening, so the captain asked
Prince Louis of Battenberg and us both to dine with him, as it
was the King of Denmark's birthday.

[South Africa is a quarter of the world where England has not
been happy. The very name, S^es Bona, seems to contain more
sarcasm than trutli, and to be anything rather than auspicium
melioris mvi. By a curious irony the result of Sir Home Popham's
expedition, in 1806, was just the reverse of that for which we
should have hoped. We retained the Cape Colony, which then
seemed important strategically to Great Britain, but which has
been a constant burden on our hands without commensurate profit
either to ourselves or to its inhabitants, and lost South America,
the development of which would have been easy and the retention
of which by us would probably have been a blessing to all concerned.
The secret of oui- breakdown is contained in the fact that South
Africa is neither a colony nor a foreign dependency. It cannot
develop like Australia, nor can it be governed like India. The
mere fact of there being a foreign race of European extraction
established on the soil, would have been no bar to its peaceful
development as a colony under the British Crown, as has been
shown in other instances, were it not for the presence of a large,
ever-increasing and turbulent native element. As a colony South
Africa does not advance, because there is no immigration ; and
there is no immigration partly because of the nature of the

1881.

SOUTH AFRICA.

373

country, and partly because of the other foreign European race
who have already occupied it. The problem of governing South
Africa to the advantage and satisfaction of the Dutch, the British,
and the Natives, is perhaps more difficult of solution than any
other which British statesmen have had to face. Mr. Gladstone
once said, when Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, that
after haviug carefully looked into South African difficulties, he had
arrived at the conclusion that the case presented a problem of which
he, for one, could not see the solution ; and the difficulty has arisen
from causes which do not seem to be even yet rightly apprehended
by the English people.

Before attempting to unravel the entangled skein of South
African affairs, it is first necessary to grasp the fact that there are
three separate and wholly different constituent strands to be
disengaged ; and, if possible, Avoven afterwards in one firm and solid

structure. First (a) there are the two British colonies, each, how-
ever, differently constituted, of Cape Colony and Natal ; the larger
of these has responsible government, and the smaller is a Crown
colony ; but all the Queen's white subjects in South Africa are not
equal in number to the population of Dublin and Perth, and of
these the vast majority are Dutch and German. Secondly (b),
there are two independent Dutch Republics, the Orange River
Free State and the Transvaal — not British at all, but each with a
strong national feeling of their own. Thirdly (c), besides the two
millions of the coloured races who live within the two British
and two Dutch settled districts, and increase and multiply with
amazing rapidity — (unlike the coloured races in Australia, New
Zealand, and North America, where they die away) — there is,
altogether outside the limits of these four European colonies, a

374 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

Congeries of native tribes and states, some dependent, others semi-
dependent, others again independent, the population of which is
estimated at from five to seven millions, but whose relation to the
British Crown, as represented by the High Commissioner, and to
the two British Colonies and the two Dutch States, has been and is
being constantly changed and modified.

(A.) The two British Colonics.

(I.) Cape Colony. — The Cape of Good Hope was rounded six
hundred years before our era, by the Phoenicians who were
sailing to Malabar and Arabia to win their trade for Carthage.
Vasco da Gama in 1497 doubled what up to that time had
been named Cabo Tormentoso, or Cape of Storms, but no
European nation took possession before the English, who did so in
1620. In 1619 the English and Dutch Governments consulted
together as to how the two nations mioht combine in the common
work. The English, however, did not establish any settlement
here, and it was the Dutch East India Company, who, in 1652, sent
out the first colony of 100 persons, who landed on the present site
of Cape Town. The place was held as a convenient house of call
on the road to the Dutch possessions in the East Indies. But
the rule of the Dutch East India Company, which was not that of
Holland, but of a close trading corporation, was naturally distasteful
to the burghers, or Dutch farmers, who objected to being ruled by a
delegate sent out by Amsterdam merchants, whose one idea was to
wring as much from them as possible. So, inspired by the spirit of
national independence and liberty, they trekked away, ever further
and further from the sea-board into the interior. In 1788 they
had extended themselves as far eastwards as the great Fish River,
500 miles from Cape Town. In 1795, when the Netherlands were
over-run by the French, the English secured the Cape for the Prince
of Orange ; and at the Peace of Amiens in 1803 it was restored to
the Batavian Republic. In 1806 it was again secured by the British ;
and at the final treaty, in 1815, made over to them in perpetuity.
Its importance to the Netherlands had declined in proportion to
the decline of their East Indian Colonial Empire, and had increased
to England as her Indian Empire increased. Cape Colony in
1815 extended only about one-third of the distance to the Orange
River, which is now its northern boundary, — 400 miles from
Cape Town.

Since 1875 the area of Cape Colony is 199,950 square miles,

1881. CAPE COLONY— POPULATION. 375

about equal to that of France, and more than half as large again
as that of the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, the area of the
United Kingdom being 121,607 square miles. The total population,
white and native, scattered over this vast but mostly dry and sterile
area, is under one million, or about that of the two cities of
Liverpool and Manchester combined, or that of Philadelphia. Of
this population of Cape Colony about one-third only are whites
(Dutch, Germans, and English), that is less than the inhabitants of
Dublin ; and yet, though they are so few, they are more than twice
as many as oil the other whites in South Africa, in Natal, in the
Orange Free State and in the Transvaal put together. The other
two-thirds of the people of Cape Colony are coloured, and consist
of 12,000 Malays, nearly 100,000 Hottentots, about the same
number of Fingoes, another 100,000 mixed (Griquas and other
half-breeds), and nearly 300,000 Kaffirs and Betschuanas. Not-
withstanding its size, from its unsuitableness for great manu-
facturing industries, and in some regions even for agriculture, it
seems probable that Cape Colony will never be much more densely
inhabited. In Cape Colony there are two, or at the most three
persons per square mile, in England there are more than 300.

In the whole of South Africa (including the two independent
Republics) colonists of Dutch descent are put down at 330,000,
and those of German, English or any other European descent at
162,000. In the Cape Colony (including Griqualand West) the
number is 220,000 Dutch to 120,000 other Europeans, or in
the proportion of rather less than two to one. It is, however,
to their qualities rather than their numbers that the Dutch owe
their political preponderance. In the first place they are the chief
landholders, and whoever holds the land holds the balance of
political power ; and they have all the virtues as well as the defects
of a community of land-holding yeomen. They recognise no
superior, but they are willing to accept every one as an equal,
provided he is white. The much abused Dutch Boer (or haucr, or
yeoman) in the Cape Colony is exactly like an old-fashioned
English farmer — a sober, temperate. God-fearing man; the double
isolation arising out of the nature of his pursuits, and the want
of a common language with the English whites, strengthens his
prejudices and makes him suspicious of English ideas, which he
associates with the smart tricks which he or his friends have on
some occasions experienced from the pushing and commercial
English. The best and richest land in Cape Colony is occupied by

376 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

these old yeomen ; they own the best vineyards and the best sheep-
farms, and the choicest spots belong to them. They seldom sell,
and most scrupulously keep the land in their own families. Few
Englishmen who have ever settled at the Cape as farmers, and
been exposed to the same vicissitudes and temptations as their
Dutch neighbours, have not imbibed a liking and respect for that
rugged, obstinate race, even if they do not become, in their way of
looking at colonial questions, even more Dutch than the Dutch
themselves. An Englishman, who certainly in his writings is not
over-prejudiced in their favour, says, " 1 have the pleasure of
numbering many intelligent and educated Boers among my ac-
quaintance, and I desire to put it on record that a good Boer is
quite equal to a good Englishman. Nay, in one respect he is better,
for he adds to the virtues of an Englishman an unbounded and
generous hospitality, and a feeling of kinship and clannishness,
which is wanting in his more cosmopolitan friend." Cape Colony
is, therefore, just as Dutch in sentiment as either of the two Dutch
Republics; the old Roman Dutch law is still the code of the colony
and the language over the greater part of it is Dutch. The Dutch
have occupied it for over 200 years, they subdued the Hottentots,
they destroyed the wild beasts, they built farm-houses and towns,
they planted trees and vineyards. Forests of oak and pine
introduced from Holland still speak for their industry. English-
men go to South Africa to make money and come back with it ;
to the Dutch settlers it is still a home — a home they love with all
the sturdy tenacity of their race.

The revenue of Cape Colony is derived largely from customs,
which have produced on an average lately about one million
sterling a year. Nearly everything pays 15 per cent, ad valmxm ;
iron goods 1 per cent, ad valorem. There is an export duty of
100/. on every ostrich exported, and hi. on every ostrich Qgg that
leaves the colony. The total revenue, in 1883, was 3,306,537/. ; the
expenditure was 3,686,288/. ; in 1884 the revenue was 2.941,054/.,
and the expenditure 3,450,000/. (The deficit of 550,000/., existing
in June, 1884, has been reduced to 28,000/. by June, 1885 ; the
temporary loan of 1,000,000 sterling, taken from the standard bank
of South Africa, in 1883, has been reduced, in 1885, to 400,000/.)
For 1885 the estimated revenue is 3,530,000/., and the expenditure
is 3,472,000/. The total debt of Cape Colony is nearly 21,000,000/.,
and involves an annual charge of 1,142,626/. for interest and
sinking fund. (Of this debt over 700,000/. was floated at 6 per

1881.

CAPE COLONY— REVENUE.

377

cent., 5,000,000/. odd at 5 percent, 10,000,000/. at 4^ per cent., and
5,000,000/. at 4 per cent. In 1885 a special Act was passed in the
British ParHament to empower the Home Government to lend to the
Colony, at 3 per cent, interest, 400,000/. to complete the eighty miles
of railway from the Orange River to Kimberley, in Griqualand West.)
A very large proportion of the debt of Cape Colony has been incurred
for profitable expenditure on public works ; on railways (of which,
although up to 1873 there were only 63 miles open in Cape Colony,
there are now 1 ,744 miles in all open for traffic in South Africa,
about as many as in the one colony of Victoria in Australia) a sum
of 14,000,000/. has been expended ; on harbours, another 1,500,000/. ;
on telegraphs, bridges, and other public works, another 1,000,000/. ;
or a total of 16,500,000/. laid out within the last ten years on
undertakings which cannot fail before long to be productive of
important results. The Basuto and other native wars have cost
the colony over 6,000,000/. within recent years. Three items in
the annual expenditure of Cape Colony worthy of attention, are
200,000/. for the colonial army ; another 100,000/. for border police,
(an armed force, chiefly used in suppressing stock thefts) ; and
40,000/. for the government of native territories outside, but
annexed to the Cape Colony, such as Transkei, &c. These three
items constitute together 340,000/. or one -sixth of the total revenue,
if we exclude the amount derived from railways. The two great
sources of revenue are customs and railways, which each con-
tribute nearly 1,000,000/. out of the total 3,000,000/. The Cape
derives a very small amount of revenue from sale of Crown lands in
comparison with the great Australian colonies. The total value of
assessed property in the colony is only 34,000,000/.

The total value of the trade of Cape Colony (the returns of
which include not only all that is consumed in the colony itself
but also all that goes inward to or comes outward from, the
Orange River Free State and the interior beyond) for the last
five years is as follows : —

Exports.

Year.

Imports.

Diamonds. Various.

Total.

1879.

£7,080,229

£2,500,000 + £3,664.735

= £6,164,735

1880.

7,648,863

2,500,000 + 4,268,700

= 6,768,700

1881.

9,227,171

2,500,000 + 4,140,042

= 6,640,042

1882.

9,372,019

2.500,000 + 4,331,626

= 6,831,626

1883.

6,470,391

2,742,000 + 6,970,300

= 9,712,300

1884.

5,249,000

6,743,270

378 - CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

The total trade value of exports and imports combined increased
from 1879 till 1882, but in 1883 it met with a sudden and sharp
decline, or a fall of nearly 20 per cent. Of the imports five-sixths
are directly from, and of the exports three-fourths are directly to,
Great Britain. A large proportion of the total exports to Great
Britain is wool, of which forty-five million lbs. (under 8,000,000/.
in value) were exported in 1883. Next come ostrich featders, of
which nearly one million pounds' worth were taken by Great
Britain in 1883 : that is to say, taking diamonds and ostrich
feathers together, one-third of the produce exported from Cape
Colony goes to the adornment of ladies. Of the imports, it is the
old story ; nearly all are cotton goods and haberdashery, and iron,
wrought and unwrought ; nearly a million sterling's worth of this
last was imported by the Government last year for railways, &c.
In 1880 Cape Colony bought eight times as much from Great
Britain as from all other foreign countries put together.

It is, however, by looking back to the time preceding the dis-
covery of the diamond fields that we are best able to measure the
advance made in South African trade. In 1869 the value of
imports was 1,968,191/. and of exports 2,267,255/. It would,
therefore, seem that since the diamonds were discovered the trade
has trebled itself. Fourteen years ago the exports from South
Africa consisted almost entirely of wool and skins, while at
present the largest part of the exports are such as have been
entirely developed since 1870 — diamonds, ostrich feathers and
mohair : the total of these three exported in 1869 was 108,000/.,
in 1879, 3,284,000/., and in 1883, 3,944,000/. In a great measure
ostrich-farming at the Cape has taken the place of sheep-farming,
but the industry seems a far more precarious one, as the market
depends in a great measure on the Highland regiments keeping
their bonnets, and on fashion, which may change any day, whereas,
as long as there is cold weather on the globe, there will be a
demand for wool. But the fact is sheep-fai'ming here will not
pay; it is the old question of native labour. Kaffirs will not
work, coolie labour is too expensive to import, and English labour
cannot be had. Cape Colony, too, is not over well adapted for sheep
farming as carried on by men of small means, who are unable or
unwilling to devote that scientific care and attention to the im-
provement of the breed and to the maintenance of the stock
which the wealthy flock-masters in South America and Australia
have done, and are doing. The total annual value of wool exported

1881. CAPE COLONY— CONSTITUTION. 379

remains as it was ten years back, between two and three millions
per annum ; or about one-fifth of that sent from one colony alone
in Australia (New South Wales). African wool is decreasing in
value yearly ; grease, scab, and dirt do their work, and the wools of
Australia are beating South Africa out of the market.

The sheep farms of the colony are often of very great extent,
comprising from three to fifteen thousand acres, and upwards ;
the graziers are generally freeholders of these farms. There are
about six thousand such proprietors, and between them they
possess nearly twenty-four million acres ; another ten thousaod
holdings, comprising sixty million acres, are held on quit rent. A
considerable number are stated to be heavily mortgaged. The
registration system which prevails at the Cape is one of the most
perfect in the world. Land is as saleable as corn. When a man
wants to buy a plot of land he simply goes to the registration
office, where he finds the name of the owner and of the mort-
gagees who have a lien on the land. He sees at a glance the
exact position of the property, and in half an hour the whole
ceremony of transfer is completed, and at a trifling expense the
new title is registered, and the land passes into his hands once for
all. Contrast this system with that which prevails in England,
the endless delays, the vast legal expenditure, the obstacles and
formalities of every kind.

The present constitution of the Cape Colony dates only from
1872. There are two Houses ; the Upper is called the Legislative
Council, and consists of twenty-two members elected for seven
years, three from each of the seven provinces into which the
colony is divided ; of these there are three western (W., N.W.,
and S.W.), three eastern (E., N.E., and S.E.), and one midland.
The other member comes from Griqualand West. They are elected
by the same constituents as the Lower, or House of Assembly.
This consists of seventy-four members who are elected for five
years. The Cape Parliament meets in April and sits for three
months, as a rule. Every male person of the age of twenty-one
years, occupying for twelve months any building, which with the
land on which it stands may be of the value of 50/., or receiving
a salary of 251. per annum, with board and lodging, possesses
the franchise ; that is, broadly, the real qualification consists
in fixed residence in the colony for a twelvemonth. In 1883
there were 68,074 such electors, not one out of ten of the
inhabitants of the colony; although if proper statistics could be

380 CEUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

procured we nnglit find that the legislative power of Cape Colony
had been handed over to the coloured people, if they only knew it
and could get on the register. Each voter has as many votes
as there are candidates, and may plump or divide them as he
pleases ; just as in elections for the London School Board or
as in the State elections in Illinois. Cape Colony is the only
part of South Africa where the franchise, both municipal and
political, is given to men of every creed and colour if they have the
propert}^ qualification. There are five ministers, the colonial
secretary, attorney-general, treasurer, commissioner of Crown lands
and public works, and one for native affairs.

Education is not compulsory, and is at an exceedingly low ebb.
Of the European or white population alone, in 1875, 34 per cent,
of the males, and 83 per cent, of the females, could neither read
nor write, and yet 90,000/. are voted for education by the Cape
Parliament annually.

Theoretically the black and white races are treated on an
equal basis, the generic difference between them being set aside ;
regulations, theoretically admirable, have been sanctioned by the
legislature for the encouragement of school education amongst all
classes. Each agricultural or pastoral district is entitled to its
public boarding school ; each small cluster of farms to its
elementary day school ; each village to a school of higher grade ;
each chief town, of which there are six, has its first-class institution,
which by its various departments links primary instruction with
the liberal training of the scientific or literary student, who is a
candidate for Cape Town University honours. The poorest child
without distinction of creed or colour has ready access to the
District mission school subsidised by the State ; there is a complete
educational ladder, with the Kraal schools at the bottom and the
University at the top. There are in all sixty-three first-class
schools preparing pupils who are working for matriculation, 116
second-class schools, and on the lowest rung of all seventy-three
third-class schools, with a large number of missions and schools
for aborigines.

Out of the 960 schools and institutions in the colony nearly one
half are native schools; no scholar is compelled to attend for
religious instruction. This system has been working for twenty-
five years, and yet an educated Kaffir is exceedingly rare. Hardly
any of them get beyond the first-class school : the rest is practically
beyond their reach; too highly trained Kaffirs fall victims to

1881. CAPE COLONS— EDUCATION AND EMIGRATION. 381

consumption and die an early death. A Fingo has with patience
and perseverance, after seven years' labour, just succeeded in
matriculating at the Cape University ; for this he had to pass in
arithmetic, Euclid, algebra, chemistry, English literature, Latin
and Greek. According to the census 172,866 native children
should be at school. There were last year only 32,278 on the
roll ; and of these 24,278 were returned as below the first
standard {i.e. could not write figures and monosyllables on
the slate, could not do simple addition, did not know the
multiplication table, and could not read monosyllables.) There-
fore it is evident, with all this elaborate machinery 90 per cent,
are engaged on learning the alphabet. Nine select children out
of the whole native children in the colony were said to be
able to pass Standard IV. Considering then that 420 out of
the 960 schools in the colony are for natives, the results are
not particularly encouraging. This is so probably because a
cardinal fact is ignored, the generic difference between the Kaffir
and the European. There is no parallel in auy part of the world
to the boldness with which the founders of this symmetrical
scheme tried to include the horde of semi-civilised and wholly
uncivilised natives in the same meshes as suffice for their European
brethren ; but the result is that the understanding, the conscience,
the whole soul of the native has scarcely been touched. Most of
the native teachers are very illiterate and incompetent, and unless
the eyes of the missionary or the head-man are upon them, they
neglect their work, and a very large part of the 90,000/. grant is
at present, as far as the natives are concerned, spent to no purpose.
The Kaffir criticism of some of these teachers is instructive : " Educa-
tion makes a man not to love his friends, and makes him a rascal ; "
i.e. he tries to be sharp upon them, and gives himself airs of conceit.
As a field for Emigration South Africa is not promising. English
emigrants may not come under 71. fee ; they are neither welcomed
nor wanted. For such as form the backbone and staple supply of
our own British colonies, working men, whose sole capital consists
in their power of labour and knowledge of handicrafts. South Africa
is not the place. All the ground is occupied by the coloured
races, Malay, Kaffir, and Coolie, who can work for less and live
on less than an English labourer, and so can drive him to the wall.
And the more the natives are educated the more will they com-
pete with the European labourer, and with the rougher kinds of
handicraftsmen. Many English mechanics are constantly leaving

382 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town for Adelaide and Sydney.
These men, some of them with families, have lived here for years,
and had, up to a recent date, been doing well ; and now they are
taking their savings to a happier country, and wisely, for the
mere labourer in South Africa sinks to the level of the native
who is his competitor.

Neither are the commercial nor professional classes in demand,
for South Africa is overstocked with people who want to work
with their brains and not with their hands. The hard-workinof
Germans, of whom there are upwards of 15,000 in the colony, with
a national press of their own, are the only men who succeed.
They percolate into South Africa as they do everywhere else, but
it is a question whether they could not find a more promising
field for themselves elsewhere. A German peasant is one of the
most admirable colonists in the world: he gives no trouble. If
you put him down on a bit of barren land, with no capital but his
two hands, in a few years he turns it into a garden. Shiploads
of them have done this at the Cape, and have become, on the
most unpromising spots, thriving and successful peasant farmers.
In 1858 Sir George Grey settled the whole of British Kaffraria
with some 3,000 families of German immigrants at the cost of Her
Majesty's Government. They were the German legion who had
fought in the Crimea on our side against the Russians. These
settlers were sent out at the public charge, with rations supplied
to them for a year, and the lands they and their descendants now
occupy were sold to them. No more prosperous colonists than
these German settlers exist in the whole of South Africa, and the
districts they inhabit have been signally exempt from the troubles
which seem to be inherent to other portions of the colony.

Under the government of Cape Colony are the two outlying
provinces, (a) Griqualand West, and (b) the Transkei.

(a) Griqualand West is the interior country to the north of the
Orange River (the boundary of Cape Colony proper) and to the west
of the Orange River Free State. Griqua means bastard, or half
breed between an European and a native, and by such as these it was
originally inhabited. Most of them speak a corrupt Dutch, mingled
with the most discordant foreign elements. It was annexed to Cape
Town as a lieutenant-governorship in 1871, and in closer bonds in
1880. But many of the white inhabitants now desire autonomy
as a free colony apart from Cape Town, under the British Crown.
It contains 17,800 square miles, that is about the size of Switzer-

1881. GRIQUALAKD WEST— DIAMOND FIELDS. 383

land, or one-third the size of England and Wales : the population
is 45,277, about half that of Cardiff. The climate is fine and
healthy, dry, and bracing. Nearly the whole country is over
3,000 feet above the sea, but bare and unfertile. Kimberley (the
€apital) contains over 20,000 inhabitants. It has to be supplied
with water from the Vaal river, from which it is pumped and lifted
500 feet a distance of seventeen miles through wrought-iron pipes.
Kimberley is the centre of the Diamond Fields. The discovery
of these in 1867 when a little Boer girl picked out the first
diamond from the roots of an old tree is the most important event
in the economical and social history of South Africa. Three years
later the diamonds were found in strange circular deposits or
patches isolated one from another. At first the digging was simple
aud cheap, the mere turning up and searching of loose soil, and
the rule was, each digger for himself. But as men dug deeper in
their claims it was found necessary to amalgamate ; and the
second stage was reached, for the deeper they went the more
necessary was machinery to hoist the soil to the surface. In ten
years time each one of these circular areas had been so far emptied
of soil as to represent great quarries, 100 to 200 yards across and
300 to 400 feet deep. These circular basins are each a species
of volcanic crater, hollowed out in the surface rock by subterra-
nean action, and filled up to their brim with a blue mud in
which the diamonds are found. The third stage had now been
reached, further combination was necessary, and all was now in
the hands of companies. Round each great basin or quarry is a
circle of steam-engines working wire-rope lifts up and down to
the bottom of the quarry, and round the brink run locomotives to
remove the hard " blue " right away to where it is taken in hand
by other washing machinery and passed through a series of rotatory
sieves. There are 378 engines at work, averaging ten-horse power
each, and 160 miles of tramway. Each bit of machinery, all the
rails and sleepers, cost 20^. per ton to bring up from the coast. The
day's work, tumbled into small snuff-boxes, will frequently reach a
local value of 1,000/. The largest diamond yet found, the Star of
the South, eighty-three carats weight, was sold to Lord Dudley for
11,000/. Out of every 100 tons of blue raised from the quarry an
ounce weight of diamonds is secured. About 1,000,000/. have been
invested in the machinery, but much of it is going to wreck. About
15,000,000/. have been paid away in labour. 1,200 Europeans,
and about 8,500 natives, are employed in the mines. The weekly

384 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

wage of the first is from 4/. to oL, and of the latter 25s. with
lodgings. The total amount paid away weekly is not less than
18,000/., which is at the rate of 1,000,000/. sterling a year. Some-
thing under 40,000,000/. worth of diamonds in the rough are esti-
mated to have been raised since 1 867. The yearly exports which
pass through the registration office amount to nearly 3,000,000/. a
year, and at least another half million pounds worth every year of
stolen diamonds find their way out of the country. Naturally there
are ups and downs in the industry and speculations, and shares
worth 15/. one year, fetch only 5s. the next; and sometimes several
of the companies pay no dividends at all ; then trade is stagnant
and insolvencies frequent ; claims which were worth thousands are
now worth nothing. A fourth stage in the mining has now been
arrived at. The sides of the quarries, which are as deep as the
cross at the top of St. Paul's is high above Cheapside, are falling
in, and regular mining shafts have now to be sunk.

Thus, as years go by, the cost of getting out these diamonds in-
creases steadily ; and the all-round price of diamonds has fallen from
3/. to 15s. per carat. Up to 1867 only 50,000/. worth of diamonds
were anually produced, chiefly from Brazil ; a new supply of over four
million pounds' worth per annum has for ten years been flooding
the market. Several of the smaller mining companies, and also
those owning the less profitable mines, have ceased work, for the
cost of production is so excessive that nearly the whole of the value
received is absorbed in working expenses. It seems probable that
even the larger mines will also reduce operations, if for no other
reason than to keep up the prices by limiting the output to about
two millions per annum. It is estimated that every year from
one-fifth to one-sixth of the stones exported are stolen. One mine
reckons that it loses each year 200,000/. in an output of 1,000,000/.
by this illicit diamond trade (I.D.T. as it is called). All through
the process of diamond digging there is ample opportunity for pick-
ing up a stone which is sure to be worth pounds and may be worth
thousands. Directly they are over the border into the Free State
or into Cape Colony they are safe.^ The diamonds are found in
paying quantities in four or five out of fifty or more " dead mud "
volcanoes ; but similar supplies may exist elsewhere, and probably
do, under better conditions of access and working, and then good-

1 The Cape Parliament and the Free State Volksraad have now (September, 1885)
each passed a law making it possible to prosecute in Cape Colony and the Orange
State for diamond- thefts committed in Griqualand.

1881. GRIQUALAND WEST— TRADE ROUTE. 385

bye to the mushroom success of Griqualand West. Kimberley
hopes to be known, if the worst comes to the worst, as *' a great
trade centre," when the railway connecting it with Cape Town
(640 miles away) is completed. It hopes to command the best
high road for " European commerce and civilisation," and to be a
centre of distribution to the two Dutch Republics and the interior
to the north. Tens of thousands of natives have come down from
the interior to work in the mines, arriving in droves from places in
Central Africa of which we scarcely know the names ; and they
have carried back from the storekeepers and others a variety
of articles of British manufacture. Most of them have a great
ambition to possess a gun of their own. Cape Colony charges 20s.
customs duty on every gun-barrel imported into the colony, and an
ad valorem duty of 12 per cent. more. In Griqualand another 2.9. Qd.
is charged as tax on the gun entering that province, and 10s. on
every gun sold, making 12s. Qd. besides an ad valorem duty. These
guns are purchased in England for 7s. Qd. each ; they are commonly
designated " gas-pipes ; " a good many of them burst long before the
natives reach the end of their journey.^ Such is the trade route to
the interior which the Home Government is urged to keep open at
the expense of the English taxpayer, for the benefit of the Cape tax-
levyer, who get 40s. upon a 7s. 6c?. article ; and such is one of the
means by which the returns of the customs dues have trebled since
the opening of the Diamond Fields. One enterprising firm in a
few years has managed to build up a trade of over 300,000/. a year.
But already the natives, instead of buying British manufactures in
the shape of clothes and goods, try and secrete their earnings about
them when they dare to go back, preferring to save the money to
get cows, and with cows (nine is the usual number) to buy a wife.
Some of the English traders, however, complain that this falling off
of the demand for their merchandise by the natives is owing " to
the curious fiscal arrangements of the Transvaal," whose custom-
house officers stop the natives on the trade route, wishing to levy
some far smaller percentage than the Cape Colony or Griqualand has
already levied on the valuable property they are loaded with.

There are certainly two sides to every picture ; and both the
prosperity of the Diamond Fields and the trade with the interior
are evidently more or less precarious. It is evident also that the
story of the pot calling the kettle black may still find application
even in South Africa.

^ Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Listitute, vol. xv. p. 101.
VOL. I. C C

386 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

In Griqualand West every native is obliged to be in possession of
a ticket or pass, descriptive of his employment, and naming the
master for whom he works. It is common also for native children
to be indentured as servants to the colonists, for fifteen years.
The Dutch farmers have the reputation of being very good to these
children, who grow up and associate on equal terms with their own
little ones.

(b) The Transkei territories lie between Cape Colony and Natal
and occupy an area of 12,065 square miles — about one-tenth the
size of Great Britain and Ireland. These large tracts of Kaffirland
have been annexed since 1877. They have lately been re-grouped,
under three chief magistrates each with several subordinates, as
Griqualand East (the portion nearest to Natal), Tembuland (the
central), and the Transkei proper (which lies immediately across the
Kei river and comprises Fingoland and the country of the ex-chief
Kreli). A portion of these territories is annexed to Cape Colony;
another portion is not annexed, although governed by officials
from Cape Town; and another portion is independent. Almost
every tribe differs from every other in the character of its relations
to the Government. Umquikela, the paramount overlord of the
Pondo clans, who are said to number 200,000 souls, distinctly
objects to British supremacy, and denies the right of the British
Government to assume a protectorate over the coast of Pondoland ;
but he states " he is prepared to enter into negotiations with any
nation or nations having for their object the opening of ports on
the Pondo coast, and the development and advancement of his
country." The British Government has, however, taken the pre-
caution of proclaiming the port and estuary of St. John's river to
be under their protection, and the Cape customs dues are levied
there since 1881.

In his memorandum *' on the native question," dated October
19th, 1882, General Gordon (then employed by the Cape Government
with reference to the Basutos) wrote as follows : —

" The present state of the Transkei is one of seething discontent
and distrust, which the rivalry of the tribes alone prevents breaking
out into action, to be quelled again at great expense and by the
ruin of the people, and upset of all enterprise to open up the
country. Throughout the Transkei there is one general clamour
against the Government for broken promises, for promises made and
never kept. Magistrates complain that no answers are given to
their questions, and things are allowed to drift along as best they

1881. TRANSKEI TfiRRITOEIES. 387

can. A fair open policy towards the Pondos would obtain from them
all the colony could require, but as things are now the Pondos are
full of distrust, and only want the chance to turn against the colony.
The Pondos, a far inferior people to the Basutos, are happy under
their own chiefs, far happier than the natives of Transkei. There
are in Transkei 399,000 natives, and 2,800 Europeans. Therefore,
for the benefit of these 2,800 Europeans, 399,000 natives are made
miserable, and an expenditure of 210,000^. is incurred by the
colony with the probability of periodical troubles."

Many Cape colonists desire to be entirely rid of the Transkei
territories, and to hand them over like Basutoland to the English
Government. At present Cape Colony is endeavouring to do what
it is almost impossible for a young colony to do. It finds great
difficulty in managing its own affairs, and yet there are people
in England who propose to annex to Cape Colony other huge
territories north of Griqualand West, carved out of Betschuanaland ;
and because they do not wish Great Britain to undertake the re-
sponsibility of annexing Betschuanaland they ask Cape Colony to do
so instead, and to undertake the protection of provinces a thousand
miles away, in which the natives greatly out-number the white
inhabitants, and where the white inhabitants are at loggerheads
among themselves. Meanwhile, in Cape Colony itself, the Kaffir
and the Fingo, by perfectly peaceful means, along a certain line
drive back and dispossess their white conquerors, who find it more
profitable to sub-let their land to native tenants than to continue
farming in black man's country. It is a question whether in
Kaffraria and in Natal the experience of Central America may
not be repeated, and Europeans have to give way to the peaceful
re-conquest of the inferior race.

II. Natal was discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1497, on
Christmas Day: hence its name. Up to 1822 it belonged to the
Zulus under the overlordship of Chaka; in 1838 his brother
Dingaan succeeded him by the help of the Boers ; in 1841 it
belonged to the latter ; in 1843 the British took it from them ; in
1845 it was separated from the Cape Colony, and has been a
Crown colony since 1856. Responsible government was offered by
Lord Kimberley, but declined by the colonists. The Lieutenant-
Governor is appointed from Downing Street, and has a legislative
council of thirty members. Seven members are nominated by the
Ciown, and the others elected by the white inhabitants only; the
franchise is property worth 501., or rental of 10/. The executive

c c 2

338 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

council consists of eight members, of whom two are nominated by
the Governor from the deputies elected to the legislative council,
while the rest are cx-ojfficio members. The two chief towns in Natal
are Durban on the coast, and Pietermaritzburg, forty-five miles
in the interior, connected with it by rail; each have over 14,000
inhabitants.

Natal has an area of 21,150 square miles, and a coast line of
over 200 miles in extent. The population is much thicker per
square mile than that in Cape Colony, but is not more than half
as large. There are said to be 400,000 natives, over 20,000
Indian coolies, and only 30,000 ;Europeans in Natal, or about one
white man to every fourteen black. The white population is thus
about the same as tliat of Perth, in a country as large as Scotland.
In this colony, which is generally held to be the most distinctively
English in South Africa, half the whites are Dutch, and the other
half are Germans, English, and other Europeans.

One-sixth of the total area of Natal has been set apart for
Kaffir occupation, another sixth remains as Crown land, and the
remaining two-thirds have been acquired by Europeans. The
native tribes (as in the Dutch republics of the Orange Free State
and Transvaal) are debarred from the franchise : they live apart on
their locations — a great many of them are refugees from Zululand —
and with each tribe resides a white magistrate. It is hoped in
time to accustom the Kaffirs to regular industry, and to individual
ownership of property. There is a tax on every native hut of
14s. Some of the Kaffirs have squatted on the unoccupied
Crown lands in the interior, and many live by regular labour on
the white man's farms; but though they have increased four-
fold since the English took the country, and are hardy, able-bodied
men, they are generally averse to such work, and hence the Indian
coolie has been imported ; chiefly, however, for labour on the sugar
plantations on the coast. The coolies are bound to remain three
years but many remain permanently, with their wives and
children.

The total imports of Natal in 1882 were set down at 2,216,000/.,
and in 1883 at 1,750,000/., being as usual chiefly cotton, woollen, and
iron goods from England. The value of exports is set down at over
831,000/.; wool and unrefined sugar constitute the larger pro-
portion. Many of the exports of Natal, particularly the wool,
come from the two neighbouring Dutch republics, which also
absorb more than one-third of the imports.

1881. NATAL— ZULUL AND. 380

In 1883 the revenue, which is drawn chiefly from the customs
(whicli are from 7 to 40 per cent, ad valorem), and from the native
hut tax, excise, and a few land sales, brought in 963,000^. The
expenditure stood at 760,000/. There is a debt of over 2,500,000/.,
the greater portion of which was incurred for the construction of
railways ; of these, however, only ninety-eight miles are yet open,
and 116 miles are under construction.

Natal is separated by the great cliff of the Drakenberg
mountains from the Transvaal and Orange republics, and by
the Tugela river from independent Zululand on the north.
The latter, owing to the great number of Zulus in Natal, is a
constant source of trouble and anxiety. Zulu affairs are not under
the Cape Government or the High Commissioner ; they are left to
the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, acting on instructions received
straight from Downing Street. Hitherto the British policy, pur-
sued by whichever party happened to be in power at home, has
caused the largest possible amount of bloodshed, and has led to
chaos, cruelty, and a saturnalia of slaughter almost impossible to
realise in England, even though it has cost, and is costing, the
British taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds every year ; nor
is it of any earthly use to any human being whatsoever. This
may be unavoidable — it may be even justifiable ; all that is here
to be noted is that it is indisputable that such is the fact.
When Ketchwayo's power was destroyed at Ulundi, Sir Henry
Bulwer, the Lieutenant-Governor at Natal, who had zealously and
consistently opposed the warlike policy of Sir Bartle Frere on the
ground that neither Ketch wayo nor his subjects had given just
cause for attack, recommended the establishment of a protectorate
with the Queen as paramount overlord over the clan chieftains of
this fine nation. To set up such a form of government, which
would have been carried on through the native chiefs, under the
Lieutenant-Governor as representative of the Queen, would have
cost (he reckoned) 6,000Z., and when once established would have
been self-supporting. But the suggestion was disallowed by the
Tory Government, who therein did but follow the uniform policy
of the Colonial Office since 1858, in which year on December the
18th Earl Grey wrote on an almost precisely similar occasion to
the High Commissioner in South Africa : " When we retire from
Kaifraria you will distinctly understand that any wars, however
sanguinary, which may afterwards occur between the different tribes
and communities left in a state of independence beyond the colonial

390 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

boundary, are to be considered as affording no ground for your
interference. After the experience which has been gained as to
the effects of British interference in the vain hope of preserving
peace among the barbarous and semi-civilised inhabitants of these
distant regions, I cannot sanction a renewal of similar measures."

Sir Garnet Wolseley divided Zululand into thirteen petty states,
each independent of the other. There had been sixty-three clan-
chiefs under Ketchwayo as overlord : and thus fifty ambitious and
disappointed aspirants were shut out from their share of the spoil.
Tliey were bound however to refer their quarrels to the arbitration
of a British Resident, to give up all the fire-arms they might
have, to acquire no more, and to admit no white men into theii
territories. These stipulations were found impossible to be carried
out. Each chieftain was desirous of thrashinc]^ his neio'hbour, and,
as is inevitable in the neighbourhood of white men, they all found
volunteers, not only Dutch but English also, who aided them in
their intertribal wars, and received land and cattle in reward.

We pledged ourselves solemnly, however, to the thirteen who
had accepted their dangerous position at our invitation and under
our guarantee that Ketchwayo should never return, that "the
dynasty of Chaka was deposed for ever " till, in Sir Garnet's
words, " the rivers flowed upward from the sea."

We broke our word, and Ketchwayo was restored. The chiefs
who were to be displaced in his favour would not submit peaceably
to his revived claims of sovereignty; they protested against our
flagrant breach of faith, and the natives generally armed them-
selves in anticipation of coming anarchy. Four of the greatest,
John Dunn, Hlubi, Oham and Usibepu, were most vehemently
opposed to his restitution. It was therefore arranged that John
Dunn (the son of an English missionary in Natal who had
adopted Zulu customs and mode of life) and Hlubi, a Basuto, who
between them held all the north-west of Zululand, should
surrender all their territorial rights to the British; while Oham, a
brother of Ketchwayo's who had deserted him in the war and
joined the British, but Avho was supposed now to be weak, was left
to be eaten up if he would not acknowledge his brother, and Usibepu
a cousin of Ketchwayo's was declared to be altogether independent
with his clan, and Ketchwayo was not to interfere with him.
This last arrangement encouragecl all the other nine chiefs to strive
for independence also. Ketchwayo on the other hand was not
content with the restoration of only part of his kingdom. He was

1881. ZULULAND. a91

deeply aggrieved at the establishment of the Reserve territory;
this amounted to one quarter of his former kingdom, and was
originally to have been one half. He was debarred from es-
tablishing military kraals, or from organising his rule in the old
way. Every chief strong enough to resist refused to submit to
him as overlord : and in spite of the prohibition of the English
Government he began to levy troops in the Reserve, and like so
many others, to call in the aid of white volunteers. He began
a war with Usibepu, whose independence had been stipulated by
the English : ('' we assigned a kingdom to Usibepu, we did not
guarantee him rule : ") and at first Ketch wayo, with the help of
the Usutus, defeated him and slaughtered 600 men. After
Ketchwayo's death he and Oliam took refuge in the Reserve*
This Reserve is now over-crowded by Zulus flying from the miser-
able anarchy in which their country is overwhelmed. It requires
a garrison of 3,000 British troops to protect it, it costs England
100,000/. a year, and it perpetuates the anarchy of the rest of
Zululand by providing a retreat and a place where defeated
chiefs can reorganise their forces. " The task of defending the
Reserve, and of maintaining order and peace in it, is tenfold, if not
twentyfold, greater than would be the case of defending the whole
of Zululand."

On the death of Ketchwayo Sir Henry Bulwer again suggested
an English protectorate of Zululand ; but Lord Derby in a des-
patch Sept. 13th, 1884, wrote: "The condition of Zululand since
1879 has been one of chronic war, carried on by barbarous reprisals,
and opinion is hopelessly divided as to the degree of blame to be
assigned to each chief or party. But beyond an earnest endeavour
to bring about peace by persuasion beyond the Reserve, and the
maintenance of the integrity of the Reserve itself as a place of
refuge for either party without distinction. Her Majesty's Govern-
ment do not consider that it would be right for them to inter-
vene ; " and in the same month replied to a deputation at the
Colonial Office : " I have heard the argument used to-day, and I
think it is an argument not used for the first time, that we are
under a moral obligation to take care of Zululand and to protect
the natives of Zululand against their enemies, because they went
to war with us and were beaten. Now, I say distinctly I do not
recognise a moral obligation of that kind. Why, Sir M. H. Beach
who held at that time the office which I now hold, from the first
distinctly repudiated any idea of annexing Zululand or of extending

392 CRUISE OF H.M.S. BACCHANTE. 1881.

authority over it, and a policy of annexation or a protectorate
never hasbeen accepted in this office — not even at the time when the
Government was in power which was supposed to be most favour-
able to any bias of this kind. Neither at the end of the Zulu war
would an annexation of any part of the country have been tolerated
by public opinion. We should have been involved in a responsi-
bility for the whole native race north of Natal, to which we are
hardly equal, and that again would further complicate our relations
with the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. You know that
a protectorate means annexation. It is the same thing ; and when
you have annexed Zululand, what next? Why, you have got
other tribes beyond ; you will always have the risk of disturbance
upon that frontier of the colony, and the further you go with